Estimate how many bricks you need for a wall.
A brick wall is priced and ordered by the number of bricks, but the number depends less on the wall area than people expect. What actually drives it is the mortar joint. A standard modular brick in India is 190 x 90 x 90 mm, and with a 10 mm joint on two faces it occupies 200 x 100 x 100 mm in the wall. That nominal size, not the brick's own dimensions, is what you divide the wall volume by.
Work in volume rather than area. A half-brick wall (100 mm thick, bricks laid stretcher-side out) needs roughly 50 bricks per square metre. A full-brick wall at 200 mm thickness needs roughly double that. Mortar typically takes up about 10 to 12 per cent of the finished wall volume, which is already accounted for once you use the nominal brick size. Then add a wastage allowance on top: 5 per cent for straightforward runs, closer to 10 per cent where there are many openings, corners or cut bricks.
For a half-brick (100 mm) wall using standard 190 x 90 x 90 mm modular bricks with 10 mm joints, roughly 50 bricks per square metre. A full-brick 200 mm wall needs roughly 100. Non-modular or handmade bricks vary, so measure a sample if precision matters.
Because bricks break in transit, get cut at openings and corners, and some arrive unusable. Ordering the exact theoretical count almost always means a second delivery. Five per cent covers a plain wall; ten per cent is safer where there are windows, doors or angled returns.
The count assumes standard 10 mm mortar joints, since the calculation uses the nominal brick size (brick plus joint) rather than the bare brick. If you are using thin-joint mortar or oversized joints, the count changes and you should adjust the brick dimensions you enter.
A half-brick wall is one brick wide laid lengthways, about 100 mm thick, used for partitions and infill. A full-brick wall is 200 mm thick, structurally stronger and used for load-bearing and external walls. The full-brick wall needs about twice as many bricks for the same face area.