How to Estimate Ingredients for 3" Brick

Masonry Wall?
Masonry wall is the most common item in building construction. We use bricks for
making masonry wall. The common size of brick is 9½"x4½"x2¾" inch.

Most commonly used wall thickness in building construction are 3", 5" and 10". We
generally use cement-mortar for jointing bricks with one another. The ratio of
cement-mortar, we use, for 3" and 5" thick wall is 1:4 and for 10" thick brick wall is
1:6.

The ingredients or materials needed for making brick masonry wall are cement, sand
and bricks. So, we have to estimate those materials.
To estimate materials for brick masonry wall we need to know the thickness of
mortar joint. We put half inch thickness of mortar between bricks for jointing. So our
brick size with mortar thickness will be 10"x5"x3".

Now lets estimate the materials.

Materials for 100 square feet 3 inch thick brick masonry wall -

Area of one brick with mortar = 10"x5" =0.83'x0.42' = 0.35 square feet (as our wall
is 3" thick, so we'll ignore the 3" side of bricks for estimating bricks).

Bricks needed for 100 sq.ft masonry wall are = 100/0.35 = 285.71 numbers,
say, 286 numbers.

If we take 5% wastage of bricks, then total bricks needed for 100 sq.ft 3" thick
masonry wall are = 285.74 + 5% = 300 numbers.

Now lets calculate the mortar volume -

volume of 1 number of brick with mortar is = 10"x5"x3"= 0.83'x0.42'x0.25' = 0.09

cubic feet (cu.ft).

Without mortar volume of one number of brick is = 9½" x 4½" x 2¾"= 0.79' x 0.38'
x 0.23'= 0.07 cu.ft.

For 100 square feet (sq.ft) brick wall brick needed 286 nos excluding wastage.
So, mortar volume for 100 sq.ft brick wall is = 286 x (0.09-0.07) = 5.72 cu.ft.
Dry volume of mortar is 5.72x1.54 = 8.81 cu.ft,
Including 5% wastage dry volume of mortar will be 9.25 cu.ft.

As we use 1:4 cement-sand ratio for 3" brick wall, so cement will be -

cement = 9.25/5 = 1.85 cu.ft.

1 bag cement volume is = 1.25 cu.ft.
So, cement needed 1.85/1.25 = 1.48 bag,
say, 1½ bag.

Sand will be needed for 100 sq.ft 3" thick brick wall is =9.25/5 x 4= 7.40 cu.ft.
Say, 8 cu.ft.

Summary:

Materials needed for 100 square feet 3" thick brick wall are -

Brick - 300 numbers,

Cement - 1½ bag, and
Sand - 8 cu.ft.

Practical estimation:

The above estimation of 100 sq.ft 3" thick brick wall is correct. But practically I
found that the required sand quantity is 10 cu.ft. So, it'll be better to calculate the
required materials for 100 sq.ft 3" thick brick wall by following manner -

Cement - 1½ bag,
Sand - 10 cu.ft, and
Brick - 300 NOS.

How to estimate materials for different quantity of 3" thick brick wall?

Suppose you need to calculate the required materials for "Y" sq.ft 3" thick brick wall.
You can do this by following way -

Cement - Y x 0.015,
Sand - Y x 0.10, and
Brick - Y x 3.
How to calculate materials for different-ratio
concrete?
Mix design is commonly referred by mix proportion in a selective zone where same
materials are used in concrete. Suppose, in Bangladesh, most of the structural
designers refer concrete mix design as ratio in drawing. Because materials of same
properties are used in all over the Bangladesh.
The question is,

How do we estimate materials for different ratio concrete?

The most common ratio referred here in Bangladesh for column concrete 1:1.5:3
and for slab 1:2:4. When we mix cement, sand and stone chips at 1:1.5:3 ratio, the
concrete strength of 28 days cube test's result comes around 3500 psi. If we mix
cement, sand and brick chips at 1:2:4 ratio the 28 days cube test result will come
around 3000 psi, which is referred for slab concrete.

I will estimate materials for 1:1.5:3 ratio concrete. After learning this process you
will be able to estimate materials for any concrete ratio.

Now lets estimate the required materials for the volume of 100 cft concrete of
1:1.5:3 ratio:

Wet volume of concrete = 100 cft.

Dry volume of concrete= 100 x 1.54 = 154 cft.
Sum of ratio 1:1.5:3, 1 + 1.5 + 3 = 5.5.
So, Cement content in concrete = (154/5.5) x 1=28 cft.
Sand content= (154 / 5.5) x 1.5 = 42 cft.
Stone chips = (154/5.5) x 3 = 84 cft.

As we know, Cement is available as 50 kg bag in the market. The volume of 50 kg

cement bag is 1.25 cft. So the required cement is 28 divided by 1.25 equal to 22.4
bag.

Summary:
Cement : 22.4 bag,
Sand : 42 cft,
Stone chips: 84 cft.

In this estimation, we use cubic feet as our concrete unit. If you want to use cubic
meter, same method can be applied. But that will be time-consuming. The easiest
way to estimate concrete materials for different unit is, apply the above result as
percentage. That means, Cement content for 100 unit of 1:1.5:3 ratio concrete is
28% (unit will be as concrete unit), Sand is 42% and Stone chips is 84%.

Now lets calculate the water content of concrete. Suppose, water-cement ratio for
concrete is specified 0.45. That means, water/cement = 0.45, or W/C = 0.45.
for 1 bag cement, water is, = 0.45 x 1.25 (as we know, 1 bag cement equal to 1.25
cft),
Water = 0.5625 cft.
We know 1 cubic feet water is equal to 28.31685 litre,
So we can write, water = 0.5625 x 28.31685 = 15.92 litre, say, 16 litre.
So, one bag cement needs 16 liter of water for 0.45 W/C ratio.
That's it.

Here, one thing should be cleared that someone assume the dry volume of concrete
is equal to one and half times of wet volume. But it is better to use 1.54 for
calculating dry volume.