Very confused about estimator calcs for brick wall

[macadonald]

Hi Guys,

Completely confused about the methodology all of the sand cement calculators use for estimating the amount of materials required for building a brick wall in terms of sand and cement. I have tried a number of different ones, but get the same answer every time.

My project is a very low front wall forming a few coarses at the base of a fence. It’s also a raised bed of sorts, so there are two walls of different heights.

If I consider the wall as 4 different walls because of the different heights and enter these into the calculators, I get a figure that seems realistic in terms of amount of sand and cement needed.

If I sum the length and height of the 4 walls first and then do the calculation the estimates are 3 or 4 times as much in total and seem unrealistic.

I’m pretty certain that this comes down to the fact that the calcs are done on a meters square basis, but it just does not makes sense how all of the online calculators can have this oversight, if that’s what it is. Surely, the sum of 4 small walls materials should be the same as the that same wall as a whole?

 

[Newboy]

If you're betting similar results from different calculators then it suggests you're doing the summing of your lengths and heights incorrectly

 

[macadonald]

Thanks NewBoy, but you beat me to admiting my stupidity....

Just clicked what I was doing wrong! Yes I summed my heights and lengths to create the 1 part wall, which clearly created a larger number in terms of meters sq..

Sorry for wasting anyones time. That's 30 seconds of your life you will now never get back