Mortar calculator
How many bricks or blocks a wall takes, and the cement, lime and sand for the mortar, in the mix you choose.
Mortar calculator
How it is worked out
With 10 mm joints a 215 × 65 mm brick takes up 225 × 75 mm of wall, about 60 per m². A 440 × 215 mm block takes up 450 × 225 mm, about 10 per m².
Mortar is about 22 % of the volume of a brick wall and about 7 % of a 100 mm block wall. Dry materials take up about a third more volume than the mixed mortar. The calculator adds 10 % for losses; change it if you like (see 5.1).
Sources
- NA to BS EN 1996-1-1 UK National Annex to Eurocode 6 (BSI 2007), Table NA.2: mortar classes M12, M6, M4, M2 with cement : lime : sand 1 : 0–¼ : 3, 1 : ½ : 4–4½, 1 : 1 : 5–6, 1 : 2 : 8–9 by volume (designations i–iv); the lower sand figure for sands with more fines, the higher for sands with fewer
- University of Babylon, Methods of construction and estimation, lecture 14: mortar is about 0.22 m³ per m³ of brick masonry; dry materials shrink by about a quarter when mixed; bulk density of cement 1,400 kg/m³
- Quantities for brickwork (MOT, Museum for Old Techniques): allow about 10 % loss for site-mixed mortar
- Virtual Labs, bulking of fine aggregate: maximum bulking at 4–6 % moisture
- NPTEL (Indian Institutes of Technology), soil mechanics worked examples: dry sand about 1,600 kg/m³
- US Office of Surface Mining (OSMRE), lime products, citing the National Lime Association: hydrated lime bulk density 3.34 lb/gal, about 400 kg/m³
Mortar calculator
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