How Many Bricks?

by Stacy Larabee

Mr. Hahn’s 3rd period class

Once upon a time three little pigs went out into the world to seek their fortunes.

We won’t worry about the first two (although maybe we should)... This is a story about the third little pig.

Walking along down the road, the third little pig, whose name was Practical, met an old woman carting a load of bricks in a wheelbarrow. It was a pretty heavy load for an old woman, so Practical Pig decided to be Gallant Pig and offered to push the wheelbarrow for her.

“Oh thank you!” said the old woman. “In fact, you can have them – I just didn’t want to end up with a littering fine by leaving them on the side of the road!” And with that, she danced a little Irish jig and scurried on down the road, leaving Practical with his load of bricks.

“Whoa,” Practical thought to himself, “what am I supposed to do NOW?”

But, being Smart Pig as well as Practical and Gallant, in no time at all the third little pig decided to build himself a house.

But remember, he was Practical.

“Will there be enough bricks?” he wondered, as visions of mansions danced in his head.

Practical was no stranger to hard work, but his funding was rather limited, so he whipped out his pencil and sketchpad and got to work.

He figured he could begin with a one-room starter house, and add on as his circumstances in life improved. The minimum dimensions for this room should be 12 feet by 16 feet, with a wall height of 8 feet.

A standard brick measures 2 ¼” x 3 ½” x 8”.

That means a lateral surface area of 2 ¼” x 8”; add ¼” for grout in all directions: 2 ¾” x 8 ½” = 23.375 square inches.

8”3 ½”

2 ¼”

Calculating the lateral surface area of the walls:

2 x 12’ x 8’ = 192 s.f.

2 x 16’ x 8’ = 256 s.f.

Practical will make the roof out of wood and thatching (because have you ever seen a roof made of bricks? When pigs fly, as Practical would say!)

Total lateral surface area: 192 + 256 = 448 s.f.

23.375 square inches divided by 144 square inches per square foot

= 0.1623 s.f. per brick

448 s.f. divided by 0.1623 s.f./brick = 2760 bricks needed for the house.

Practical estimated that there were about 100 bricks in his wheelbarrow.

So, 2760 bricks needed – 100 bricks = 2660 bricks to buy.

At $0.29 each, this will be 2660 x 0.29 = $771.40 (luckily, there is no sales tax in his state).

(Unfortunately, it looks like Practical will have to wait until his fortunes improve to build his house of bricks).

However, Practical Pig was also Industrious Pig.

He sold his load of bricks on Ebay and the high bid was $810, so he was able to buy all 2760 bricks at his local store for $0.29 each and build his house after all! (His brother gave him some sticks to use for the roof, but that’s another story).

The End.