A brick takeoff is the brick you will lay, course by course. The Masonry Modeler is masonry estimating software that counts veneer from that bond: openings, corners, soldiers, rowlocks, and brick over block.
Modular brick in running bond is where 6.75 per square foot comes from. Three courses and their joints stack to 8 inches, the same as one block course. I use 6.75 to check the field brick. I do not send it to the yard as the order.
That factor assumes running bond, modular size, and a flat rectangle. A soldier is not running bond. A rowlock is not a modular running course. A corner measured on both elevations is not a check that will save you. Utility, queen, and Norman sizes are different modules. If the spec is not modular, drop 6.75 before you start.
The whole workflow, from the count to the bid and the shop drawings, is the masonry estimating software page. The block behind this veneer is the CMU takeoff.
Deducting an opening from the area only removes field brick. The jambs still need closures. The head may be a soldier, or a steel angle with brick above it. The sill may be a rowlock. None of that is inside 6.75 times the net area. Add the specials back, or count the courses and skip the deduction.
Corners are where elevation takeoffs go wrong. One brick turns the corner. Take one wall out-to-out and the return to the face of that brick. Take both elevations out-to-out and the corner brick is on the order twice. Brick at a normal corner is usually the same brick, not a special SKU, unless the spec calls a shape. The miss is the count and the bond.
Stack two courses at the corner. The end should swap. If both courses finish the same way, you have two veneers butted together, not a corner. The corner test is the same read I use on block.
In TMM the bond runs through the corner, and the opening is a hole in that bond. The closures and the special courses at the opening are the pieces sitting there, counted as those pieces.
A soldier stands the brick on end. One soldier course is about three running courses tall, so it lines up with an 8-inch band and with a block course behind it. Count the soldiers along the band or the header. On modular brick the width you see, plus the joint, is the nominal brick height: 2-2/3 inches. Twelve divided by 2-2/3 is 4.5 soldiers per foot. That is the check. The order is the count along that course, including the piece that turns a corner in it.
A rowlock lays the brick on its face so the edge shows. Sills, copings, and water tables are usually rowlock. The course is taller than a running course, about the width of the brick plus a joint, so the brick above it moves unless you planned the coursing. Count one rowlock per nominal brick length along the sill. Do not paint the sill with the wall-area factor.
So So So So So So ← soldier header, check at 4.5 / ft Course 6 Br Br Br | opening | Course 5 Br Br Br | opening | Course 4 Br Br Br | opening | Rw Rw Rw Rw Rw Rw ← rowlock sill, counted by the foot Br = running-bond field brick So = soldier Rw = rowlock
The field courses stop at the jamb. The soldier replaces about three of those courses over the head. The rowlock replaces the brick at the sill and changes the coursing above it. Three different lines.
TMM counts those courses from the bond you set. Soldiers and rowlocks stay off the field-brick line because they are not field brick. Change the course and the count moves with it.
Brick over block is two walls that share an opening. Block modular is 16 inches by 8 inches. Modular brick is 8 inches by 2-2/3 inches, three courses to one block course. The rough opening is the same hole. The pieces around it are not. Block wants jamb units, a lintel, maybe bullnose. Brick wants cuts at the jamb, maybe a soldier at the head, maybe a rowlock sill.
Take the block off as block. Take the brick off as brick. One area used for both will be wrong on at least one of them. Ties and joint reinforcement still get measured, by the course or by the foot of wall. They do not change the unit count. The block method — corners, bullnose, bond beams, rebar, grout by cell — is the CMU takeoff.
In TMM both wythes come off the wall you draw. The opening lands in the brick and in the block. The lists stay separate. The same model is what prints the masonry shop drawings, so the veneer on the sheet is the veneer you priced.
Book a demo and bring a veneer elevation. We will count the bond, the opening, and the brick over block.
It is a check for modular brick in running bond. It is not the order. Soldiers, rowlocks, corners you measured twice, and a different brick size all fall outside that factor. I use 6.75 to see if the field count is in the right neighborhood. Then I count the wall.
One brick turns the corner. Take one elevation out-to-out and the return to the face of that brick. If both elevations are out-to-out, the corner brick is on the takeoff twice. Stack two courses. The corner should swap. If both courses end the same way, the bond is not running through.
Along the band or the sill, not by the area of the wall. A modular soldier course is about three running courses tall, and the check is 4.5 soldiers per foot. A rowlock is one brick per nominal length of sill or coping, on a taller course. List them apart from the field brick.
Both wythes come off the wall you draw. The opening lands in the brick and in the block. The lists stay separate, because a block jamb and a brick soldier are not the same piece. Three brick courses match one block course when the veneer is modular.
Bring a veneer elevation. We will count the bond, the opening, and the brick over block.
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