04 Oct 2026
Acoustic Slat Panels or PVC: Which to Choose
The Wall Panelling & Ceiling Panels range holds two quite different products under one heading. Felt-backed acoustic slat panels are one. PVC boards — slatted, fluted and flat — are the other. They go on the same walls and look superficially similar in a photograph, but they are made of different things and suit different rooms.
Here is the difference, what each one is good for, and the two places where the naming in this range will mislead you if you are skimming.
What the acoustic panels actually are
An acoustic panel in this range is a set of HDF slats mounted on a felt backing. The slats are the part you see; the felt is the part doing the acoustic work. The listings describe the felt as absorbing sound and reducing noise.
Worth being straight about what that means in a house. These panels help soften echo in a room — a bare-walled living room, a home office that rings, a stairwell. They are not soundproofing, and they will not stop noise passing through a wall to the room next door. None of the listings publishes a measured absorption figure, and we are not going to quote one we cannot support. If you need a specified acoustic performance — for a studio, or to satisfy a building requirement — ask us before ordering so we can check whether the supplier has test data, rather than assuming.
The slat pitch varies across the series and changes the look more than the material does:
- Wall Panel 01A — 2.5cm slats, 1.5cm gaps.
- Wall Panel 15A — 3.5cm slats, 1.5cm gaps.
- Wall Panel 04A — alternating 3.8cm and 1.8cm slats, 1cm gaps.
- Wall Panel 17A — 5cm slats, 1cm gaps.
The 31 and 32 series are described as three-sided, meaning the veneer wraps the slat faces rather than stopping at the front, so the panel reads the same from an angle. The 37 series uses a rounded slat profile. Most of the acoustic panels are 240cm long; the 02W series is 280cm, which is the one to look at if the wall is taller than 240cm.
The material matters for where you put them. HDF and felt are not for a bathroom, a wet room, or any wall that gets splashed or regularly wiped down.
What the PVC panels are
The PVC side of the range comes in three shapes.
Slatted PVC
The 61, 62, 63 and 64 series look like the acoustic panels from across a room but are PVC throughout. Wall Panel 61A, for instance, is PVC slats on a black reinforcement — no felt. These are 30cm boards at 240cm long, eight to a pack. The 63 series interlocks: a board is 30cm wide loose and covers 25.5cm once fitted, which the listing accounts for by stating 4.9m² per pack when fitted and interlocked.
Fluted and seamless PVC
The 80 series is fluted — vertical grooves cut into a PVC board, 15cm wide, twelve per pack, stated at 4.32m² when fitted and interlocked. The 21, 81 and 82 series are described as seamless: tongue-and-groove joints that run colour continuously across a wall without a visible break. The 81 series puts sixteen boards in a pack and the 82 series twelve, so they plan out differently despite the similar board.
Flat wall boards
The 05, 07 and 011 series are flat sheets rather than slats, at 0.7cm thick for the 07 and 011 boards, fixed with tongue and groove. The 011 boards are 90cm wide, two to a pack. These are the panels the listings point at kitchens, bathrooms and commercial spaces: PVC resists moisture, wipes clean, and does not mind being cleaned often.
Two naming traps
These are both real, and both easy to walk into.
One PVC panel is called "Acoustic". Wall Panel 64T carries "Acoustic" in its product name, but its own description is seamless PVC with no felt backing. If you are buying for echo, do not buy that one — buy from the felt-backed series.
Not every wall board is marble-effect. Most of the 07 boards are: white, grey, mixed grey, gold and black, gold and white, gold and grey. But Wall Panel 07M is a plain cream and Wall Panel 07W is a walnut wood effect. The series number does not tell you the finish, so read the listing.
There is a third thing to read rather than guess: trims. The Trims & Fittings sub-range does not map tidily onto the panel numbering, and a trim listed for one group sometimes fits another. The trim a panel takes is named on that panel's own page. Use that, not the numbers.
Where each one suits
| Room or wall | Which way to lean |
|---|---|
| Living room feature wall, bare and echoey | Felt-backed acoustic slat |
| Behind a bed, as a headboard wall | Felt-backed acoustic slat |
| Home office, media room, a room that rings | Felt-backed acoustic slat |
| Bathroom, wet room, utility | PVC — flat boards or slatted |
| Kitchen wall that gets wiped | PVC flat board |
| Hallway, stair wall, rental property | PVC — wipes clean, 0.7cm boards barely change an architrave |
| Ceiling | PVC — see Ceiling Panels |
| A marble look without tiling | PVC wall board, 07 or 011 series |
Thickness, and the wall you are fixing to
Acoustic panels are mostly 1.5cm or 1.7cm thick, with the 37 series at 2.2cm. PVC slat and seamless boards run 1cm to 1.8cm. The flat 07 and 011 wall boards are 0.7cm.
That difference decides more than it sounds like it should. A 0.7cm board arriving at a door architrave or a window reveal barely registers. A 1.7cm acoustic panel plus a trim is a visible step, which either needs planning for or needs the panelling to stop short of the opening. Measure the reveals before you choose, not after.
Finishes
Between them the two families cover oak, dark oak, walnut, light grey, dark grey and black. Teak, smoked oak, shadow oak, concrete and plain white sit on the acoustic side; the marble effects and a cream run through the PVC wall boards. Marble is the one finish available in both materials — Wall Panel 01WK as felt-backed slat, or Wall Panel 07A as a flat PVC board. The acoustic series also runs to metallic finishes, which behave quite differently under a downlight than a wood effect does.
So which
If the wall is dry and the room echoes, choose felt-backed acoustic slat, and choose the slat pitch by how big the wall is and how much else is going on in the room. If the wall gets wet, gets wiped, or is a ceiling, choose PVC. If you want the slatted look in a bathroom, the PVC slat series gives you that without the felt. And if neither answer is obvious, tell us the room and we will give you a straight opinion.
Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store, and £50 beyond.