Wall Panel 01S Shiny Silver: pack coverage and slat spacing

Wall Panel 01S - Shiny Silver is an acoustic slat panel in the Slat & Acoustic Panels range, supplied four panels to a pack. The listing gives each panel as 60 x 240 x 1.5cm, the coverage as 5.76m² per pack, the slats as 2.5cm wide and the space between them as 1.5cm, over HDF slats on a felt backing. The code to quote is AWS-WP0220.

How many packs a wall takes

Work in panel widths, not square metres. Each panel is 0.6m wide, so divide the wall width by 0.6 and round up for the panel count, then divide by four for packs. The 5.76m² figure is the same sum done the other way, and it only holds if you are panelling the full 240cm height.

Measure the width at the top and again at the skirting, and the height in at least three places. Walls are rarely square, and with a vertical slat panel that error shows up in the last panel. Decide before you order which corner the part panel goes into: the one you see as you walk in, or the one behind the door.

The slat repeat, and where it lands

A 2.5cm slat with a 1.5cm gap makes a 4cm repeat, so a 60cm panel face holds fifteen of those repeats if the pattern runs uniformly from edge to edge. That matters in two places. At a corner, a cut panel breaks the rhythm, so it is worth deciding whether you cut through a slat or through a gap. And anywhere you have to notch out a socket, a switch or a bracket, the fixing may land on a gap rather than on solid slat.

The listing does not say how the slats sit at the left and right edges of a panel, so if you need the gap to read the same across a joint as it does across a panel face, ask before you order rather than after the pack arrives.

Shiny silver on a real wall

The listing calls the finish shiny silver, and that one word is all it gives you about how the face behaves. A shiny face picks up whatever light you put on it: a wash of light down the wall will read as bright lines with shadow between them, while flat ceiling light evens the whole thing out. If the wall faces a window, look at it at the time of day you actually use the room, and ask to see a panel rather than a photograph.

The panel also adds 1.5cm to the wall. A socket or a switch that was flush with the plaster ends up recessed behind the panel unless it is brought forward, which is an electrician's job and worth settling before the panels arrive.

For the same hard finish in a different colour, Wall Panel 01G - Shiny Gold is the nearest match, and Wall Panel 01A - Natural Oak is the quiet alternative; both are listed at the same 240cm length.

What the listing does not tell you

• Sound absorption. The description talks about sound control, but gives no absorption figure, no NRC or αw value and no test standard. If you are treating a studio or a meeting room to a specification, ask the shop for the manufacturer's data before you commit.
• What the silver face is. The construction given is HDF slats on a felt backing. Whether the silver itself is a foil, a laminate or a lacquer is not stated, and that affects cleaning and how it wears beside a doorway.
• Felt colour. Not stated anywhere on the listing. The felt shows in every single gap, so it is worth confirming.
• Cutting and fixing. No method is given. Ask whether these are meant to be glued, screwed through the felt or battened out, particularly on an uneven wall.
• Edge trim. Unlike some of the other 01-series panels, this listing names no matching trim. If a top edge or an external corner will be on show, ask what caps a 1.5cm panel.

Before you order

Order a panel more than your sum says. A notched cut that goes wrong costs a whole panel, not a strip, and a pack of four leaves you nothing in hand on a 2.4m wall. Adhesive for Wall Panels is sold separately in the same range. Delivery is free within 50 miles of the Glasgow store and £50 beyond.

Photographs, the full specification and a question form are all on the Wall Panel 01S - Shiny Silver panel page.