Brick calculator: Why is it important in brick masonry?

A brick calculator helps you find the accurate number of bricks needed to construct a masonry wall. This is done manually through a formula, and you can determine the number of bricks required to make columns, foundations, and a brick wall. It is an easy way that makes your job quite simple, as there is no guessing involved here.

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Brick calculator: Ideal sizes of bricks

The sizes of bricks that are generally used vary from place to place. Several countries have established various standards for brick sizes. In India, the standard size of bricks that are generally used is 190mm*90mm*90mm, while in the United States, the standard size of bricks is usually around 7.5 inch*3.5inch.

Knowing the fact that brick is one of the most popular materials that is used for construction, as it is readily available, has extremely low cost, and could be easily handled, most countries use it for construction purposes. Therefore, there are quite a few set sizes that are established, such as the ASTM, which implies the American Standard for Testing Materials.

Apart from this, there is the British Standard and Canadian Standard Association. Also, in India, there is an ideal size of a brick, as we have mentioned earlier, according to IS, which is the Indian Standard.

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Brick calculator: How to know about the quality of the brick?

Factories could use different raw materials for making bricks. And knowing the quality of the bricks that are used for construction is extremely important because if poor-quality bricks are used, the quality of the walls would be affected. The walls might not be able to withstand bad weather conditions. It might also develop cracks soon after construction.

Well, knowing the quality of the brick is indeed an essential and difficult job. So, to make it a bit easier for you, here are some guidelines stated below to help you decide which bricks to buy:

Whenever you buy a brick, the most important thing that you should keep in mind is that the brick should be copper coloured. That’s because they are of better quality than other bricks of other colours. You also need to ensure that when you buy them, there should not be any cracks present in these bricks.

The bricks that you would use for the construction of masonry walls should have square edges. The edges of the bricks should be extremely sharp. This would just give a perfect look and make it easier for the constructors to build the walls.
An interesting parameter is a ringing sound when two bricks are struck together. Good quality bricks will always produce a ringing sound when hit.
You need to check how much water the brick absorbs when it is immersed in water for 24 hours. There is a limit to which the brick should absorb water. If it absorbs more water than that, it is surely not a good quality brick, and you should not use it for construction. In the case of a first-class brick, the brick should not absorb more than 20% of the water of its weight. In the case of a second-class brick, the brick should not absorb more than 22% of the water of its weight.
Last but not least, what you need to remember is that the brick that you would use for your construction purposes should have a crushing strength above 55 kg/cm square. If the brick that you have chosen has a crushing strength that is below this, then you can not use that brick for construction.

Brick calculator: How to find out the number of bricks that you would need?

Using a brick calculator formula is one of the easiest methods to find out how many bricks you would need to build a wall. We have stated below the formula.

N = (L*H)/ [(l+t)*(h+t)]

Here,

N stands for the number of bricks that are needed
L stands for the length of the wall
H stands for the height of the wall
l stands for the brick
h stands for the height of the brick
t refers to the thickness of the mortar between the bricks.

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Brick calculator: Results that you get from a brick calculator

While using a brick calculator, not only do you get to know about the number of bricks that you would require for building the wall, but also some other essential facts which you might require later on. They are:

The volume of mortar required.
The volume of brick masonry.

Brick calculator: How to use a brick calculator?

There are a few steps that you need to follow to use the brick calculator quite efficiently. Given below are the steps that you need to know to use the brick calculator:

In the first step, you must select the unit you would use to enter all your dimensions. All the dimensions should be entered in the same unit.
Add the dimensions of the thickness of the wall and the dimensions of the brick. You can even ask your vendor to help you with the data.
After you do these two steps, you will get to know the total amount of brick masonry and mortar that would be required.
Then you can estimate the number of bricks that you would require for the construction or to build the wall. The amount of cement and sand that you would require to prepare the mortar can also be estimated very accurately after this process is carried out.
The brick calculator also helps estimate the number of cement bags that you would require for building the wall or for your construction project.

Brick calculator: How to use your brick calculator as a brick-mortar calculator?

You can also use your brick calculator as your brick-mortar calculator and know about the materials of your mortar. Here are the steps that would help you in this process:

Firstly, you need to enter the width of your brick to know about the amount of mortar that you would require for your construction project.
Then, you need to enter your expected wastage percentage for mortar after you have carried out the first process.
You need cement and sand for your mortar mix. To find out the weight of the cement and the volume of the sand that you would require, you need to select a mortar mix ratio that you would require.
The cement bag size could be changed depending on what is readily available in front of you to know the amount of cement bags that you would require to buy.
To calculate the total material cost for your brick wall, you need to enter the unit prices of the materials that you would need, such as bricks, sand, and cement.