Every jali design we make, terracotta or white breeze block, has the same face: 8 inches by 8 inches. That makes counting simple once you decide one thing, the width of the mortar joint.
Jali bricks per square foot, with and without a joint
One square foot is 144 square inches. One block face is 8 × 8 = 64 square inches. With the blocks butted tight, that gives 144 ÷ 64 = 2.25 blocks per sq ft.
Real walls have joints. Add the joint to the block size and divide again:
- 6 mm joint (about ¼ inch): each block takes up 8.24 × 8.24 inches, so about 2.12 blocks per sq ft.
- 10 mm joint (about ⅜ inch): each block takes up 8.39 × 8.39 inches, so about 2.04 blocks per sq ft.
In metric, a 10 mm joint gives roughly 22 blocks per square metre.
A worked example: a 10 × 8 foot jali wall
Say the opening is 10 feet wide and 8 feet high, and your mason uses a 10 mm joint.
Method 1: by area
10 × 8 = 80 sq ft. 80 × 2.04 = 163 blocks.
Method 2: by rows and columns
Width: 120 inches ÷ 8.39 = 14.3, so 14 blocks across. Height: 96 inches ÷ 8.39 = 11.4, so 11 rows. 14 × 11 = 154 blocks.
The second number is the one to trust. You cannot lay 0.3 of a jali. Fourteen blocks with thirteen joints between them make a panel about 117 inches wide, so there is roughly 1½ inches left at each side. Eleven rows make a panel about 92 inches high. Those gaps get filled with a mortar band, a plaster return or a row of solid brick.
Add 5% for breakage: 154 × 1.05 = 162 blocks to order.
Why whole blocks matter for jali
A plain brick can be cut in half and nobody notices. A jali cannot. Cutting through the lattice leaves thin, weak ribs and a broken pattern at the edge of the wall. So plan the opening around whole blocks where you can, and put any leftover space into the frame.
If the opening is not built yet, you can set its size from the blocks: width = (number of blocks × 8 inches) + (number of joints × joint width).
Use the calculator instead
Our jali brick calculator does both methods for you. Enter the wall in feet or metres, choose the joint and the design, and it shows the block count, the finished panel size and a drawing of the pattern. Then send the result to us on WhatsApp for a rate.
