Key skills resource sheet

Calculating Quantities of Brick

This material was developed by the KSSP and HMP Liverpool as part of their Key Skills Support Programme development project. If we know how to obtain dimensions / sizes to calculate the area (m2) of a wall (rectangle) - we need to be able to convert the m and the m2 into a quantity of bricks. The size of a standard brick is shown below, as you can see the height of the brick is 65mm. 65mm

102.5mm

215mm So, each brick has a height of 65mm. Then when you bed the brick onto mortar, the height of the brick is raised to 75mm. Go and ask to see a GAUGE STAFF and have it explained.

That means that the bed joint is 10mm.

Brick 65mm Bed joint 10mm

Brick & Bed = 75mm

4 course of bricks (4 x 65mm) + 4 bed joints (10mm) = 300mm

Bricks

300mm Beds

Crown Copyright 2000

Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme

Ive got it I can follow that what next?

Well, try to solve the following. How many course of bricks would there be in the wall below?

900mm

Answer =

Okay lets move on a little bit further. Lets have a look at how many bricks are required to build a wall.

What things do I need to remember? Or, what things do I need to know?

Well if you have got this far you are doing exceptionally well! Ill show you now what you need to know and how to work it all out Lets start with the wall thickness

What do you mean THICKNESS?

Its just a term used by Bricklayers for example you may be building a wall 1 brick thick or a brick thick. Let me show you.

Crown Copyright 2000

Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme

 brick thick

1 brick thick

1 brick thick

Got the idea? Let me explain it.

To explain it further forget about the dimensions / sizes of a brick for a moment. Look at the diagram below

brick thick
1 brick thick A brick thick wall, with an area of 1m2 A 1 brick thick wall (twice as thick) with an area of 1m2 A 1 brick thick wall with an area of 1m2 How many would a 2 brick thick wall have? Heres an example, to help explain it further. Answer =

- has 60 bricks - has 120 bricks - has 180 bricks

2000mm

10000mm Front elevation Step 1 Convert MILLIMETRES into METRES Length Height = = 10000mm 1000 = 10m 2000mm 1000 = 2m

1 Brick thick End elevation

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Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme

Step 2 Find the area of the wall. USING THE FORMULA - Length x Height = Area So, 10.000m x 2.000m = 20m2 Step 3 Walling thickness = 1 Brick thick How many bricks are there in 1m2 - for a 1 brick thick wall? = 120 Step 4 Multiply the area of the wall by the amount of bricks in 1m2 Area of wall = 20m2 Bricks per/m2 = 120 bricks 20m2 x 120 bricks = 2,400 bricks needed. Now, its your turn. Calculate the bricks required for the wall. Remember the FOUR steps.

3500mm

12400mm Answer Step 1 =

1 brick Answer Step 2 =

Answer Step 3 =

Answer Step 4 =

Crown Copyright 2000

Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme

Crown Copyright 2000

Produced with assistance from the DfEE Key Skills Support Programme