Wall Panel 31T Walnut: reading the trim code before you buy

A panelled wall is judged at its edges. Get the stop detail right and the wall looks built in; leave a raw end showing the slat core and it looks like a job that ran out of parts. Wall Panel 31T in walnut names a matching trim on its own listing, which is helpful, and that trim deserves a closer read than it usually gets.

A pack, and the wall it reaches

One board measures 60 x 240 x 1.7cm, there are four boards in a pack, and the pack covers 5.76m². Laid side by side the four boards span 2.4 metres of wall at full 2.4 metre height. So a chimney breast of 1.2 metres takes two boards; a 3 metre wall takes five and therefore two packs; a 4.8 metre wall takes eight and uses two packs exactly. Where the width does not divide by 0.6, one board gets ripped down the length, and the cut will land somewhere inside the slat pattern rather than tidily between slats. That cut board belongs at the end you look at least.

The trim named here is PVC

The listing names Wall Panel PVC Trim Acoustic - T Walnut - WP 01/02/03/04/08/31 - 240cm, ten pieces to a pack. Two things follow. First, the panel numbers in that code show the same trim is used across the 01, 02, 03, 04, 08 and 31 groups, so if you are running different profiles in one house the edge detail can be consistent. Second, the trim is PVC while the board face is described as veneered, and two different materials in the same colour name rarely match perfectly. That is normal for trims and not a defect, but it is worth asking to see them together, or asking the shop how close the match is, before you commit to a long exposed edge rather than a corner. The trims are listed in panel trims and fittings.

Behind the slats

The board is described as HDF slat construction with a felt backing, and at 17mm it is thicker than the standard panels in the shop. The felt shows in the gaps, so its colour is part of the finished look, and the listing does not say what colour it is on the walnut board. Thickness has a practical consequence too: the wall comes forward by 1.7cm, which shifts the relationship between the panelling and the skirting, any architrave on the same wall, and the faceplates of sockets and switches. Settle those before the boards arrive.

Walnut across the range

Walnut is one of the tones that recurs in several profiles, which makes it easy to carry through a house. Wall Panel 01T in walnut is another acoustic panel listed in walnut; this board’s own description calls itself thicker than the standard panels without saying what theirs measure, so ask if that difference matters to you. Wall Panel 21T in walnut is the seamless tongue-and-groove plank in the same tone name, and its listing says it suits areas where moisture resistance and easy maintenance matter, which points it at a hallway or a bathroom wall. If walnut is warmer than the room wants, Wall Panel 31D is the same board listed in dark oak.

Three things to confirm, then order

• The slat width and gap, which are not published and are the figures that decide whether this board sits happily next to another profile.
• Whether the walnut face is a timber veneer or a wood-effect finish. The listing says veneer on three sides of visible slats without naming the material.
• Any measured acoustic figure. The description talks about absorbing sound, but no coefficient or class is quoted, so ask rather than assume if the room has a brief to meet.

Ask about the current lead time when you order, and order the boards and the trim together so the wall can be finished in one go. Everything in the group is in slat and acoustic panels. Delivery is free within 50 miles of the Glasgow store and £50 beyond it.

When the trim match and the board count are settled, order Wall Panel 31T in walnut for the whole wall at once.