How To Calculate The Number Of Blocks Required For Your 3-Bedroom Flat

How will you Calculate The Number Of Blocks Required For Your 3-bedroom Flat? This has been a question must prospective homeowners often ask. to answer that, we have in our previous article – how many blocks are required for a 3-bedroom flat? Today we will show you exactly how to calculate it.

Blocks are a must-have for any building process. They make up the foundation and wall, and all other building processes rely on blocks to stand before they can be used. They can also serve as load-bearing elements or as mere partition panels. There are different types and sizes of blocks and each is made to suit the requirements of the building procedure. 

The size of the block (dimensions) can however be a factor in determining the number of blocks required to successfully complete a building. Other things to consider include; the size of the building, and the area of walls to be built amongst others. 

In this piece, we will be taking a look at the blocks required to complete a standard 3 bedroom flat, resting on a 450 sqm piece of land with a sitting room, three bedrooms (all en-suite), a visitor’s toilet, a dining, a kitchen, a store, and sit-out areas.

How To Calculate The Number Of Blocks Required For Your 3-Bedroom Flat

The standard dimension of a block in Nigeria is 450 mm X 225mm, thus, we can use this to calculate how many blocks are required for a meter square of wall.

The planer area of one block is (0.225 X 0.45)= 0.10125 m2.

One meter square of wall is 1/0.10125 = 9.876

Thus one metre square wall will have about 10 blocks.

Phases of Block Usage

The application of block usage can be divided into 3 phases. This will help us calculate the required block better 

1. Foundation to DPC Level

Here the total length and width of the building are to be considered. And seeing as there are no openings, the entire foundation excavation length and width are to be considered.

Since the 3 bedroom flat is on a 450 sqm plot of land, the length of the foundation should be 100256 mm which equals 100.256m

The height of the foundation to DPC should be 900mm which equals 0.99m.

The total area of the wall would then be 100.256 X 0,99= 90.2304 m2.

Since 10 blocks are used for 1m2 of the wall, then 10 X 90.2304 = an estimate of 903 blocks.

2. DPC to Lintel Level

Here we will consider the openings in the buildings such as windows, doors, etc. 

That is, we have to calculate the total area of the wall and subtract the openings from it.

Total lengths of wall = 87420 mm = 87.42 m

Height of wall= 2100mm = 2.1 m

Area of wall = 87.42 X 2.1= 183.582 m2

Total areas of doors = 19.74 m2

Total areas of windows= 18.72 m2

Therefore an estimated area if the wall = 183.582 – 19.74 – 18.72 = 145.122 m

This total number of blocks = 145. 122 X 10= 1452 blocks 

3. Lintel Level

This level also doesn’t consider wastage. So we can use the estimated length of the wall calculated in the foundation phase which is 100.256m.

Length of the wall = 100.256m

Height if the wall= 675mm = 0.675 m

Total area of the wall = 100.256m X 0.675 = 67.6728 m2

The total block to be used is 66.6728 X 10 = 677 blocks.

Thus, the total block to be used is the calculation of blocks in all 3 phases = 903 + 1452 + 677= 3032 blocks.

Conclusion

Note that this is an estimate of blocks depending on the flat built on a 450m2 plot of land. The architecture, size of the doors and windows, and height of the building amongst others also play a part in calculating the blocks to be used.

The blocks to be used might also be more as many could end up damaged and broken. To be on the safe side, you might use 3500 blocks for the building estimate above.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)