How many bricks per square foot? Walls, patios and floors
A modular brick with a 3/8 inch mortar joint takes up 8 x 2 5/8 inches on the face of a wall, so you need about 6.86 bricks per square foot of wall: 686 for 100 square feet, 720 with 5% waste. Laid flat on a patio the same brick shows its 8 x 4 inch bed, so about 4.5 bricks per square foot with mortar joints and 5.1 sand-set. A thousand bricks cover roughly 146 square feet of wall.
Open the brick and block calculator
Bricks per square foot by how they are laid
The count depends on which face of the brick you see and how wide the joint is. On a wall the brick shows its long edge, 7 5/8 x 2 1/4 inches plus a 3/8 inch joint on two sides. Flat on a patio it shows its bed, 7 5/8 x 3 5/8 inches, so each brick covers more and you need fewer. Sand-set patios have almost no gap, so slightly more bricks than the mortared version.
| Laid as | Per sq ft | Per m² | Per 100 sq ft, to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall, modular brick on edge, 3/8 in joint | 6.86 | 73.8 | 720 |
| Patio or floor, laid flat with 3/8 in mortar joint | 4.5 | 48.4 | 473 |
| Patio or floor, laid flat, sand-set (tight) | 5.08 | 54.7 | 534 |
| Wall, UK/EU standard brick, 10 mm joint | 5.51 | 59.3 | 579 |
Bricks and mortar for a wall
Single-wythe wall face, modular brick, 3/8 inch joints, 5% waste, no openings. Take doors and windows off the area first, or let the brick calculator do it.
| Wall area | Bricks | To buy | Mortar (cu ft) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft | 686 | 720 | 5.5 |
| 200 sq ft | 1,372 | 1,440 | 11.1 |
| 300 sq ft | 2,058 | 2,160 | 16.6 |
| 500 sq ft | 3,429 | 3,600 | 27.6 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 6,858 | 7,200 | 55.3 |
Bricks for a patio or floor
| Patio area | With 3/8 in mortar joints | Sand-set, tight |
|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft | 473 | 534 |
| 200 sq ft | 945 | 1,067 |
| 300 sq ft | 1,418 | 1,601 |
| 500 sq ft | 2,363 | 2,667 |
| 1,000 sq ft | 4,725 | 5,334 |
How the numbers are worked out
Add the joint to the length and to the height of the face, multiply for the area of one brick plus its share of mortar, and divide 144 square inches by it. Modular on a wall: (7.625 + 0.375) x (2.25 + 0.375) = 21 square inches, 144 / 21 = 6.86 bricks. Flat: (7.625 + 0.375) x (3.625 + 0.375) = 32 square inches, 144 / 32 = 4.5. Multiply by the area, add waste, round up.
Before you order
- Brick sizes vary: queen, king, Norman and engineer bricks all have their own counts. Measure one brick from the pallet you will buy and type it into the calculator with your joint width.
- Corners of a veneer wall use one extra brick per course per corner for the return; add them to the count.
- Patios need a base: 4 inches of compacted gravel and an inch of bedding sand, worked out in the sand and gravel under pavers guide.
- Metric formats and joint widths are in bricks per square metre; concrete blocks in the block guide.
Frequently asked questions
- How many bricks per square foot of wall?
- 6.86 for the US modular brick (7 5/8 x 2 1/4 x 3 5/8 inches) with a 3/8 inch joint, which is the nominal 8 x 2 2/3 inch face: three courses to 8 inches. That is 686 bricks per 100 square feet before waste and 720 with 5%.
- How many bricks per square foot for a patio?
- About 4.5 with 3/8 inch mortar joints and 5.1 sand-set with the bricks butted together, because the exposed face is the 8 x 4 inch bed rather than the 8 x 2 5/8 inch edge. A 200 square foot patio is 1067 sand-set bricks with 5% waste.
- How many bricks are in 100 square feet?
- 686 on a wall, 720 to buy with 5% waste; 473 laid flat with mortar or 534 sand-set on a patio. Herringbone and basket-weave patterns cut more bricks at the edges: use 10%.
- How many square feet does 1,000 bricks cover?
- About 146 square feet of wall with modular brick, or about 197 square feet of sand-set patio. Brick is often sold by the cube of 500 or the pallet of about 500 to 530, so a 100 square foot wall is one cube plus a few.
- How much mortar per square foot of brick wall?
- The calculator gives 0.055 cubic feet of mortar per square foot, or 5.5 cubic feet per 100 square feet, for a single wythe with 3/8 inch joints. Bag labels are simpler: a typical 80 lb bag of mortar mix says it lays about 37 modular bricks, so 100 square feet is about 19 bags.
- How many bricks per square foot in the UK?
- About 5.5 for the 215 x 65 mm brick with a 10 mm joint, because it is a slightly larger face than the US modular. In metric that is 59 per square metre; the bricks per square metre guide has the other formats and joint widths.
More guides
- How many bricks per square metre (and per square foot)?
Bricks and blocks per square metre and per square foot for the common formats, how the mortar joint changes the count, and what to order for a 10 m² wall.
- How many bricks do I need for a fire pit? 30, 36 and 48 inch
Bricks per course and in total for round fire pits of 30 to 48 in inside diameter at 3 to 5 courses, in modular, UK and fire brick sizes, with 5% waste, and square pits.
- How many blocks for a retaining wall? (12x4, 16x6 and 18x8 in)
Retaining wall blocks for 10 to 50 ft walls at 1, 2 and 3 ft high in the three common sizes, plus the gravel base and the drainage stone behind the wall, and metric.
- How many bags of mortar per 100 bricks (and per 100 blocks)?
80 lb and 60 lb mortar bags per 100, 500 and 1,000 bricks or 8x8x16 blocks from the label yields, mortar volume per square metre of wall, and 25 kg bags for UK bricks.
Last updated 2026-09-12. Figures are planning estimates from typical product data: check the yield, size or coverage printed on what you buy and round up.