Lego tool calculates how many bricks it takes to build a house

The BBC's James May did build a house out of Lego bricks for a TV series

If you have ever wondered how many Lego bricks it would take to recreate your house in the multi-coloured blocks, then wonder no more.

A US estate agent has put a calculator online that works out how many bricks would be needed to make a Lego doppelganger of your home.

Totals are calculated using square footage and the number of floors.

The average American home would need more than 10 million blocks to reproduce in Lego form, said the firm.

The company said its calculator only works out the total needed to build external walls and a roof. Adding internal walls, stairs and other features would only swell the total.

Buying enough bricks to rebuild a home in Lego would be an expensive exercise.

Lego sells bricks in bulk via its Pick a Brick store. This sells 100 4x2 white bricks for £19. The 4x2 brick is the standard unit on which Movoto bases its calculations.

Buying enough to build the shell of a new build UK home, which on average has an area of about 79 sq m (850 sq ft), would cost about £1.1m. Far more than the average price of £199,016 for a semi-detached house built of real bricks.