If you have a brick project, it’s always nice to do your own calculations of quantity. On a large masonry job, there can be a lot of waste if you have too many brick on the job. Brick come in pallets of 525 to 530 each in the normal modular size.

If you have 40 pallets sitting on a job, the mason’s helpers who take the brick from the pallet to the mason are going to grab the bricks that are closer. It’s a natural tendency for a person to do the least work necessary. If 40 pallets are broken open and you only need 30 to do the job, you have quite a lot of bricks left.

The brick company will pick up left over full pallets and give you credit for them, they won’t pick up broken pallets. It’s a double expense to you because you will buy more brick than you need, and you will have to pay someone to move the leftover brick.

It takes approximately seven modular brick to cover one square foot of wall space. Brick salesmen generally ask you to figure seven and one half, but I’ve found that, if the brick aren’t damaged extensively on the pallet, seven is enough. Another contributing factor to the amount needed is the person laying the bricks. If you are paying for the work, make sure you pay for bricks lain, not how many disappeared from the stack.

Simple math for the estimate goes like this; length x height x seven. For instance, if you have a square building that is 40 feet on each side and the measurement from the footing to the point where you will stop laying is 10 feet, the total square footage is 1600(40 x 4 x 10). Next, take out square feet of space in the wall for windows, doors, and other areas that will not receive brick. Subtract that amount from your total and multiply by 7. This gives you the net amount for calculating mortar and sand.

Rule of thumb is 7-8 bags of mortar per one thousand brick, and one yard of sand for three thousand brick. Wall ties are calculated at one hundred per one thousand brick. All of these are simple calculations, and should be very close to the quantities you will need.

If the brick you use are not modular, everything changes. Keep in mind that a modular brick covers a space of 2.67 inches x 8 inches. If your brick is larger, that has to be taken into consideration. When choosing brick, keep in mind that most masons charge more for bonus or queen size brick.

Because larger brick do not have a standard, it’s a little harder to calculate quantities. The amount of mortar and sand goes down some, and the brick usually are figured at 5.5 per square foot.

When you have estimated your job and are ready to order materials, it is a good idea to not bring in all the brick at once, if it is going to take more than one trip with the brick truck. The same goes true for mortar. You must asked your brick company how many brick they deliver at one time.

As I said before, too much stuff on the job will only lead to more waste. You may find wheelbarrow loads of mortar dumped out at the end of a day’s work because the mason had too much made up. Brick are sometime covered up with dirt, and if you don’t count what is in the wall, you may pay for more than you have lain.

None of this is to say that people are corrupt, things have a way of getting out of hand without some supervision of the work. This is true with any construction project. When you are paying for something, you have every right to keep tabs on it.

Before the mason runs out of brick and mortar, do another calculation of what is remaining to lay and subtract the brick you have on hand. This should be done when the mason and crew are not on the job so you can get an accurate count. If you do this, you may find your earlier calculations were off some. You may need less brick to finish than you estimated, and you want have too many brick shipped on the last load. If you need more than you estimated, you can make sure that the extra is added to that shipment. Brick companies usually reserve more brick than a project will take, to cover miscalculations.

Cost for masonry work varies from one location to another. If you are hiring the work, get three prices for comparison. Also, see some of the work that has been done by each mason, because there can be a wide range of acceptable masonry work.

Masons don’t always do their own cleaning, but they usually know who you can call to do the work. Some people don’t want their brick cleaned because they prefer the rough look. If you intend to clean yours, have it done as soon as the work is finished. The longer mortar stays on the face of bricks, the harder it is to get off.

You may want to lay your own brick. If you are not accustomed to hard work, I recommend against it.

Talk to you later.

  • Share/Bookmark