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Bricks & Blocks Calculator
Bricks & Blocks Calculator
Andrei Micael de Sa Boulter avatar
Written by Andrei Micael de Sa Boulter
Updated over a week ago

Bricks & Blocks Calculator

Our Bricks and Blocks Calculator is designed to simplify your construction projects, making it easier for you to estimate the materials you'll need for building walls. Whether you're planning a garden wall, a boundary wall, or an addition to your home, our calculator ensures that you get a precise count of bricks or blocks required. You can tailor your calculations by selecting various types of bricks or blocks to see which best suits your project's needs.

EvoAdmin Setup

1. Create your Calculator

Start by navigating to: Product > Calculators

When you click on the "Add a new Calculator" button, you'll see a form, and you must fill in all details:

  • Type

  • Name

  • Url Key (slug): you can "Autogenerate From Name"

  • Default Calculator Image: you can select a default image for your calculator

    • Upload Calculator Image: you can upload with Media Manager the image that you want for your calculator

  • Metrics: will be in meters by default

  • Mortar Mix Ratio: The standard mortar mix ratio for bricklaying is 1:5 (cement:sand)

  • Waste Percentage: this number will be added to the Flooring area inserted by the user

Once you've filled out all the details and ensured everything is correct, simply click on the 'Save' button

2. Create your materials

⚠️Note:

Before adding the materials, you need to create the Product Groups related to each material Product that will be displayed.

After you click on the "New Material" button, you'll see a form, and you must fill in all the mandatory details:

  • Main Product Name

    • You can select an image in the Media Manager and a label to be displayed in the Material options in the Storefront

  • Product Group:

Note: Tally items are not supported by the calculator. Therefore, Product Groups used in the calculator setup should not include Tallies.

At this point, you can choose an existing formula. In this case, you should choose the Bricks/Blocks formula, This formula will be used on the storefront to calculate the recommended qty.

After you choose the "Bricks/Blocks" formula, the following fields will be displayed:

  • Choose Unit of Measurement

  • Length field name (displayed on the storefront)

  • Map the product attributes to the Length variable

    • The UOM of the attribute has to match the "Choose Unit of Measurement"

    • This attribute has to match the attribute set against the product.

  • Width field name (displayed on the storefront)

  • Map the product attributes to the Width variable

    • The UOM of the attribute has to match the "Choose Unit of Measurement"

    • This attribute has to match the attribute set against the product.

  • Height field name (displayed on the storefront)

  • Map the product attributes to the Height variable

    • The UOM of the attribute has to match the "Choose Unit of Measurement"

    • This attribute has to match the attribute set against the product.

Note: The attributes of the items that belong to the selected Product Groups have to match the "Map the product attributes..." fields. This is crucial to the Calculator setup, otherwise, they will not be displayed in the Storefront Calculator.

Once you have added your main materials and selected "Bricks/Blocks" formula, you have the option to enhance your project planning by including associated materials for cement or sand.

To add associated products all you have to do is click on 'New Associated Product' and choose 'Cement formula' or 'Sand formula' according to the Product Groups you want to associate to your main material. This formula will calculate the recommended quantity of cement or sand bags needed based on the volume of bricks or blocks used in your project.

Bricks/block and Cement/sand Calculus:

Calculate the Number of Bricks or Blocks (NB):

NB=W×L×H / [(w+t)×(l+t)×(h+t)]

Calculate Mortar Volume (MV):

(MV) = WxLxH - NB x (w x l x h) = MV

Calculate Dry Volume of Cement Mortar (DVCM):

Dry volume of cement mortar (DVCM) = MV x 1.3

The multiplication by 1.3 accounts for the increase in volume due to the addition of water and voids in the mixture.

Calculate Quantity of Cement:

Qty cement in kg = DVCM x [1 / (1+K) ] [m3] x 1440 [kg/m3]

Normally the bags of cement have 50 kgs, so

Qty of bags of cement = Qty cement / 50

  • The ratio 1(1+K)(1+K)1​ calculates the part of the cement in the total mix, where KK is the sand part of the mortar ratio (1:K).

  • 1440 kg/m 31440 kg/m3 is the density of cement.

Calculate Quantity of Sand:

Qty cement in m3 = DVCM x [K / (1+K) ]

After you choose the "Cement" or "Sand" formula, the following fields will be displayed:

  • Choose Unit of Measurement

  • Map the product attributes to the Weight variable

    • The UOM of the attribute has to match the "Choose Unit of Measurement"

    • This attribute has to match the attribute set against the product.

⚠️Note:

Because the sand and cement formulas are dependant on the bricks/block formula. You should only select these when creating an associated product from a main material that uses the bricks/blocks formula. As the users will have the ability to select which brick/block(and it's respective dimensions) they want to use to calculate the amount of cement/sand they need.

3. Meta Information (Optional)

This is where you can enter information to further utilize SEO capability.

4. Content (Optional)

The Calculator Default Layout has a widget "Calculator Content". The information added to the Content Field of the Calculator setup will be displayed in this widget.

5. Settings (Optional)

In this section, you can select the layout to be used, or click on the "Manage layouts" button and create a new layout.

You have also a "Page Hidden Until Login" button which can be used to disable the page until a user has logged in - this means you can make it available to account customers only.

6. Disclaimer

This is where you can enter the Terms & Conditions of your Calculator.

Layout and Widget setup

The Calculator uses the default layout but you can edit this one or create a new layout and apply it to any individual calculator.

The "Calculator Banner" is available. in any layout, it's used to create the link to the calculators in the storefront.

Storefront Functionality

After clicking on the Calculator Banner, the user will be redirected to the calculator page.

Just after clicking on the "Terms & Conditions", the "Calculate" button will be enabled, and if the user doesn't insert the "Total area" an error message will be displayed:

You have the option of adding more than one wall dimension and the waste percentage will be from the sum of all wall areas.

After the user inserts the area and clicks on the "Calculate" button, the recommended quantity (taking into consideration the Waste Percentage and Mortar Joint Thickness) will be displayed, and they can add to the cart:

If you added cement or sand to the associated products with the respective formula, you'll be able to click the checkbox and select the brick you wish to calculate the cement or sand for. The cement/sand formula will then use the number of bricks to return the recommended quantity.

Once you select the checkbox and click calculate you'll get the recommended amount of cement/sand for that particular product.

Configurable products

Steps:

1.Click on the "Calculate" button

2.Click on the "Configure" button of the configurable product

3.Select the child product

The quantity will be displayed and you can add the product to the basket

4. If you have associated products that use cement or sand formulas, click on the checkbox

5. Which will take you back to the product grid where you can see the amount of cement/sand required, add the product to cart, or reconfigure the product if you wish to do so.

FAQ

Do the calculators support Tally Items?

No, currently Tally Items are not supported by the calculators.

Are configurable products supported in the Bricks/Blocks Calculator?

Yes, the calculator supports configurable products.

What can I do when the products are not displayed in my calculator?

  • Check if the products are part of the Product Group selected in the calculator setup.

  • Make sure that the attributes of the product match with the attributes setup of the calculator.

  • If you want to calculate cement or sand make sure the main material uses the bricks/blocks formula.

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