Garden Railway Forum

How do I work out the length + height + width of a single house brick please.

Wickes give the following dimensions for an engineering brick:

Height: 65 mm
Length: 215 mm
Width: 103 mm

So in 16mm scale, 3.5mm x 11.5mm x 5.5mm to the nearest half mm.

Thanks Simon.

SimonWood wrote: ↑Tue Oct 30, 2018 1:55 pm Wickes give the following dimensions for an engineering brick:

Height: 65 mm
Length: 215 mm
Width: 103 mm

So in 16mm scale, 3.5mm x 11.5mm x 5.5mm to the nearest half mm.

Although of course in days gone by when bricks were made in hundreds of local brickworks, the dims varied quite widely and medieval brick sizes generally ranged from about 8½ x 4 x 2 inches to 10 x 5 x 2 inches, and dimensions of 9 x 4.5 x 2.5 were stipulated in a charter of 1571. The size was geared to a man’s hand, the length being twice the width, the width being twice the height.

philipy wrote: ↑Tue Oct 30, 2018 2:07 pm

SimonWood wrote: ↑Tue Oct 30, 2018 1:55 pm Wickes give the following dimensions for an engineering brick:

Height: 65 mm
Length: 215 mm
Width: 103 mm

So in 16mm scale, 3.5mm x 11.5mm x 5.5mm to the nearest half mm.

Although of course in days gone by when bricks were made in hundreds of local brickworks, the dims varied quite widely and medieval brick sizes generally ranged from about 8½ x 4 x 2 inches to 10 x 5 x 2 inches, and dimensions of 9 x 4.5 x 2.5 were stipulated in a charter of 1571. The size was geared to a man’s hand, the length being twice the width, the width being twice the height.

Back when I was learning technical drawing as we called it in my school days our teacher taught us that the common house brick was 9 inches long, 4.5 inches wide and 3 inches high. I have a friend who has just measured bricks used on a station on the old Cambrian line and found the bricks are only 8.5 inches long and 2.5 inches high. It appears to me that bricks can and do vary in size slightly. I might measure the ones my house is built with out of curiosity now!

Length and width started out about 8" by 4" and then grew a bit as time passed until 9 x 4.5 x 3 became the common size for machine made bricks became the rule in the 19th century. The general rule with depth is 'the older the brick, the thinner the brick.' 14th century bricks are about 2", and then creeps up to 2.5" by the mid-17th century, and finally 3" with the Victorians. However, there were often slight local variations. The bricks in my house in England are 9 x 4.5 x 3 in the front and are new bricks of 1881 vintage, whilst the back is 9 x 4.5 x 2.25 recycled brick of 1680-1700, probably from the two cottages that were on the site before the present row of houses was built.

By comparison to English bricks, Danish and North German "monk bricks" are rather large - 285mm x 135mm x 80mm (11 x 5 x 3 zoll) being a common size as far back as the 14th century.

Peter in Va

I only wanted to know how to convert to 16mm scale. But it has been very informative about the different sizes of bricks in other countries and when they were made in medieval times.

You also need to remember, that bricks were made in all parts of the country, by hand and also with machines. They all had some variance at one time or other.

I was top in class in Technical Drawing ever year at my school, but useless at other subjects….

I've measured the bricks in my house. I was surprised to find them 8.25" long, 2.25" high and 4"wide. The house was built in 1987 so fairly modern!

So you've got rivet counters for the locos and the rolling stock. Now we have a category for "brick counters". And not just the number but the size and source as well !

Somebody had to say it My inner rivet counter has now found an additional cause. Very informative and QI. I live in a 300 year old stone built house - all very irregular.

Tingewickmax wrote: ↑Wed Oct 31, 2018 1:09 pm So you've got rivet counters for the locos and the rolling stock. Now we have a category for "brick counters". And not just the number but the size and source as well !

Somebody had to say it My inner rivet counter has now found an additional cause. Very informative and QI. I live in a 300 year old stone built house - all very irregular.

Strangely for a brick obsessive, I live in a frame built house with a poured (in 1891!) concrete basement. Only bricks in this place are the three chimneys.

Peter in Va

Bottom line of all this is that unless you are modelling a specific prototype or a specifically modern building, the actual size of your bricks doesn't really matter as long as they are in the right ballpark.

philipy wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 6:46 am Bottom line of all this is that unless you are modelling a specific prototype or a specifically modern building, the actual size of your bricks doesn't really matter as long as they are in the right ballpark.

Thats what I thought also Phillip, I didn’t want them to look too small or big for also.

There you go Rod....
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110g-1-19th- ... Swom1ZixY1

philipy wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:23 am There you go Rod....
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110g-1-19th- ... Swom1ZixY1

I have a couple of packets of that, some in a skip and some just in a pile. Also a few of their concrete blocks and bricks, look really effective.

philipy wrote: ↑Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:23 am There you go Rod....
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110g-1-19th- ... Swom1ZixY1

Thanks Phil.

Just ordered some bricks and mortar.