Are you renovating or building? So you are certainly looking for information on how to make a space functional, beautiful and useful, whether it is to live, work or play.
But the technical information that involves a construction is also essential. After all, one of the major impasses of a renovation or construction project is the expense with the construction materials used in your work.
As much as you can trust your architect or building materials salesperson, the best way out is to understand the principle of the calculations that involve your choice yourself, even before starting a project. Often the value of the material you intend to use in a given area makes the project unfeasible. Thinking about it, take your construction and renovation project and stay tuned to the following tips.
How many bricks per square meter should I use on a construction site?
Certainly, this is one of the first doubts that arise when buying materials and executing a project. As much as it is the task of the engineer or architect to know how to guide his client well on the amount of material that will be consumed during the renovation or construction, this does not need to be exclusive to the professional, right?
Knowing how to calculate how many bricks per square meter a job consumes can greatly advance the decision of what type of project you intend to start. After all, nothing delays a project more than a poorly made budget and having to deal with unnecessary expenses.
Anyone who needs or wants to have complete control of spending on a project can and should also know how to calculate the right amount of bricks per square meter to build a wall, an entire room or an entire house. So, before starting the calculations, let’s start with some basic principles.
First, it is essential to know that all calculations of bricks per square meter – or other materials related to the space of the work – start with the corners and settlements in mooring, always checking the level with a plumb so as not to leave a margin of error.
The second is that the smaller the brick, the more bricks are needed.
The third is that, although the intention of this calculation of bricks per square meter is to avoid waste of materials, it is always important to buy a few more. Remember that bricks break, some may be damaged during the process, and adjustments may be necessary in the future. This goes for other building materials, such as tiles, tiles etc.
Well, now that you know the basic principles to start the calculations, it’s time to get a pen and paper to understand how they work in practice.
How to calculate bricks per square meter in practice
First, let’s emphasize the concept of brick: the piece is nothing more than a massive block made to build walls in order to separate rooms giving privacy to the environments.
Are we going to put on the tip of the pencil the amount of bricks per square meter that will be spent on a constructed area considering the size of the brick?
Let’s consider the material needed to make a five square meter wall. The calculation of the amount of bricks per square meter that an area will consume should consider the following numbers:
- The type and size of brick you intend to use;
- How many holes does the chosen brick have;
- The amount of square meters of the area (which, in this case, we know is 5m²);
- The equation to arrive at the result.
In Brazil, there are several types of bricks used in the most diverse types of construction, but we will consider in this account the three main types, that is, most commonly used. Our bill will be based on 6, 8 and 9 hole bricks.
Check the dimensions of the brick types in centimeters, according to the standard:
- 6-hole residential brick: 9 x 14 x 19
- 8-hole building brick: 9 x 19 x 19
- Residential and building brick with 9 holes: 11.5 x 14 x 24
How many bricks per square meter to use? We will now learn how to perform this calculation based on the number of holes in the brick.
Bricks per square meter: calculation with 6-hole brick
A 6-hole brick defaults to the following measurement: 9 x 14 x 19 cm (thickness, height and length measurements in centimeters). Therefore, a brick with 6 holes measures = 14 x 19 x 9 cm.
Considering that this brick will be used while standing on the construction site, let’s calculate the sides 0.14 x 0.19 = 0.0252m². That is, 1 brick is 0.0252 m². How many bricks will cover 1m²? To arrive at the result, you must make the following final calculation:
1m² ÷ 0.0252 = 39.68
That is, you will need approximately 39 6-hole bricks to cover an area of 1m².
Bricks per square meter: calculation with 9-hole bricks
To calculate how many 9-hole bricks per square meter an area consumes, we must start from the same principle as previously seen: the larger the chosen brick, the less units will be spent on the job.
The 9-hole brick follows the following measurement pattern: 11.5 x 14 x 24 cm (thickness, height and length in centimeters). This is the pattern that will guide us to know how many square meters there is in 1 unit, and how many bricks will be needed to cover an area of 1 m².
The final calculation is the same as for the six-hole brick, but considering the measures of the 9-hole brick:
0.14 x 0.24 = 0.0336 m²
1 ÷ 0.0336 = 29.76
The result that we must consider is 29.76 units of 9-hole bricks to cover 1m². That is, we will need to buy around 30 units of bricks per square meter.
Bricks per square meter: calculation with 8-hole Bahian brick
Do you know what a Bahian brick is? This type of brick is more fragile when compared to other models of six or nine holes. Although this type cannot withstand structural loads, it can be applied exclusively for sealing in works. Generally, it entails more expenses with plaster material, which is a disadvantage.
Bahian brick is used in the leveling of walls and, despite the low performance due to the high rate of breaks during construction, it has the advantage of its thermal performance.
As there is no precision regarding the dimensions of the Bahian brick, we will use the parameter 9 x 19 x 19 cm as a parameter to calculate the m² (thickness, height and length in centimeters).
0.19 x 0.19 = 0.0361m²
1 ÷ 0.0361 = 27.70 units of 8-hole bricks cover 1m².
Rounding off the result, let’s consider that we need to buy around 28 units of bricks per square meter.
Bricks per square meter: calculation considering openings
When calculating the number of bricks per square meter, remember to also consider wall openings, such as doors and windows. Make the count based on the height x the width of the opening. Then, decrease the result by the size of the total area of the walls to receive the bricks.
For example: if there are 1.20 m² of openings in a total wall area of 4m², then your area to receive bricks is 2.80m².
See how easy it is to calculate bricks per square meter?
Now that you know how to calculate bricks per square meter, comment on your experience with construction and renovations and your tips for better planning your expenses and optimizing the project.
