18 calculators

Concrete & Masonry

Slabs, footings, bricks, blocks, mortar, pavers, retaining walls.

Concrete Slab CalculatorVolume, bags and ready-mix for slabs, patios and bases Strip Footing CalculatorContinuous footings and foundation trenches Concrete Pier & Pad CalculatorRound or square piers, columns and post pads Concrete Steps CalculatorPoured steps with a top landing Concrete Wall CalculatorPoured walls and foundation walls, minus openings Fence Post Concrete CalculatorCement, sand and stone per post hole Rebar & Reinforcement CalculatorBars, laps, weight and ties for a slab grid Reinforcing Mesh CalculatorRef mesh sheets with overlaps Concrete Block CalculatorBlocks and mortar for a block wall Brick CalculatorBricks and mortar by wall area Mortar CalculatorMortar for a known number of bricks or blocks Block Paving CalculatorPavers, base, bedding sand, joint sand and edging Retaining Wall Block CalculatorTerraforce and Löffelstein blocks, drainage stone and height checks Cement, Sand & Stone CalculatorBags of cement and cubes of sand and stone for any amount of concrete Floor Slab CalculatorConcrete, DPM, mesh and fill for a ground floor slab Strip Foundation CalculatorTrenches, foundation concrete, bricks to DPC and mortar for a house Room Bricks & Mortar CalculatorBricks, cement and sand for all four walls of a room Boundary Wall CalculatorBricks, piers, foundation and mortar for a free-standing wall

Guides for this trade

Concrete & Masonry

Estimating concrete in South Africa: bags, cubes and MPa

Work out the volume, add sensible waste, then turn it into 50 kg bags of cement and cubes of sand and stone, or a ready-mix order in the strength on your plans.

4 min read Concrete & Masonry

Concrete mixes by the wheelbarrow

How South African builders batch concrete, mortar, plaster and screed by the bag and the barrow, with the Concrete Society’s figures for each mix.

3 min read Concrete & Masonry

Bagged cement or ready-mix: where the break-even sits

How to compare mixing on site with ordering ready-mix for your job, using your own supplier prices, and what else besides price should decide it.

4 min read Concrete & Masonry

Strip foundations under SANS 10400-H

The widths, thickness and concrete SANS 10400-H asks for under house walls, how to take off the trenches, concrete and foundation brickwork, and when you need an engineer.

3 min read Concrete & Masonry

Floor slabs, DPM and mesh

What SANS 10400-J asks of a concrete floor slab on the ground: thickness, membrane, panel sizes and fill, and when the slab needs mesh or an engineer.

4 min read Concrete & Masonry

Damp-proofing: DPC, DPM and rising damp

Where the damp-proof course and membrane go under SANS 10400-K and -J, the details that keep them working, and why plaster over the DPC is the most common cause of rising damp.

3 min read Concrete & Masonry

How many bricks do I need?

Bricks and blocks per square metre for South African sizes, how to measure walls and openings, and how much cement and sand the mortar takes.

3 min read Concrete & Masonry

NFP, NFX, FBS, FBX: choosing the right brick

What the South African clay brick classes in SANS 227 mean, where each one belongs, and what the E-number on an engineering brick tells you.

3 min read Concrete & Masonry

Building a boundary wall

How high a free-standing brick wall may be under SANS 10400-K, when it needs piers and how far apart, and how to take off the bricks, foundation and mortar.

3 min read Concrete & Masonry

Paving a driveway

Ordering pavers, kerbs, bedding and jointing sand, preparing the base and laying the pavers, following the Concrete Manufacturers Association’s step-by-step guide.

3 min read Concrete & Masonry

Retaining walls with Terraforce and Löffelstein

How concrete retaining blocks work, the height limits in Terraforce’s and Infraset’s published data, how to count blocks, and when you need plans and an engineer.

3 min read