BRICKS AND BLOCKS

Metric bricks are a little smaller than the old imperial one. New bricks can be bonded into old brickwork by slightly increasing the mortar bed joint. There are a variety of sizes available and they differ from country to country. Brick sizes have remained fairly constant over the years although, in the UK, the depth used to be less (about 2 ins/51mm) whereas modern bricks are about 2.5 ins./64mm. American bricks are about 8 4 2.25 inches (203 102 57 mm); South African 8.75 x 4 x 3 inches (222 x 106 x 73mm) and in Australia they are 9 x 4.33 x 3 inches (230 x 110 x 76mm).

Comparisons of metric and imperial bricks are as follows:-

Length of brick (excluding joint) Metric Metric Imperial Imperial Imperial Imperial Imperial
215mm 215mm 225mm 230mm 230mm 230mm 230mm

Width of brick Height of brick (excluding joint) (excluding joint)

102.5mm 102.5mm 107.5mm 110mm 110mm 110mm 110mm 50mm 65mm 67/68 mm 70mm 73mm 76mm 80mm

Typical Joint
10mm 10mm 10mm 10mm 10mm 10mm 10mm

Length (including joint) Metric Imperial

225 mm 8.86 ins 9 ins. 228.6mm

Width (including joint)

112.5 mm 4.43 ins 4 1/2 ins 114.3 mm

Height (including joint)

75 mm 2.95 ins 3 ins. 76.2 mm

Typical joint
10 mm 0.39 ins 3/8 in. 9.55 mm

BRICK QUANTITIES
AREA 1 Sq. Metre 2 Sq. Metres 5 Sq. Metres 10 Sq. Metres QUANTITY
60 bricks 120 bricks 300 bricks 600 bricks

MORTAR
0.02 cubic metres 0.05 cubic metres 0.12 cubic metres 0.24 cubic metres

Building blocks in a size which co-ordinates with bricks are also available. These blocks are equivalent to two brick lengths and three brick heights (i.e. a total of six bricks).

BLOCK QUANTITIES
Area 1 Sq. Metre 2 Sq. Metres 5 Sq. Metres 10 Sq. Metres Quantity
10 blocks 21 blocks 53 blocks 106 blocks

Mortar
0.01 cubic metres 0.02 cubic metres 0.05 cubic metres 0.10 cubic metres

MORTAR and CONCRETE

1 kg. of dry mortar mix (i.e.1 part cement to 5 parts dry building sand) when mixed with water will lay approximately one brick.
Doug Reay It is recommended that for brickwork below ground level the ratio should be reduced to 1 part cement to 4 parts soft dry builders' sand.

2240 Kgs. all-in-ballast will make approximately 1 cubic metre concrete.

How to Calculate Masonry Blocks Needed to Build a House

One of the most important aspects of the building process is estimating the materials needed to complete the project. The reason this step is so important is simple: Too many materials means the project can go over budget, and too little materials means the project can be delayed waiting on deliveries. One of the easiest items to estimate is concrete block. Whether estimating for a foundation or the entire home, it's a fairly straightforward process, but if it's not done properly, it can shut down a work site until more blocks are delivered.

Instructions Things You'll Need:

Architectural drawings Calculator

1. 1 Determine what kind of blocks will be used. This information can be found on the drawing. The block size helps to determine the thickness of the wall. Blocks come in many sizes, but the most common is 8 inches tall, 8 inches thick and 16 inches long. 2. 2 Determine the total square footage for each wall. Use simple math to get this information: basic length times height. For this example, the house will be a simple square, 10 feet on each side with 10-foot-high walls. The total square footage for each wall is 10 feet times 10 feet, or 100 square feet. 3. 3 Add up the square footage for each wall. For this example, each wall is 100 square feet, so the total square footage is 400. 4. 4 Determine the square footage covered by one block. Multiply the length of the block times the height of the block--16 inches by 8 inches equals 128 square inches. Now divide the total square inches of the block by 144--128 square inches divided by 144 equals 0.88 square feet.

5. 5 Determine the number of blocks needed to complete the building. Take the total square footage of all the walls and divide it by the number found in step 4. For this example, 400 square feet is divided by 0.88, which equals 454.54. If the answer has a decimal, round up to the next whole number. This number is the number of blocks needed to build the building. 6. 6 Add 10 percent to the number found in step 5. To do this, multiply the rounded-up number of blocks from step 5 by 1.1. For this example, 455 times 1.1 equals 500.5. As with the previous step, round decimals up to the next whole number, so the total number of blocks is 501. This number will give enough for any breakage or unusable blocks that come in the order.