Wall Panel 32F Grey Oak: how to choose between 32 and 31

Two boards in this range share a specification to the letter, and Wall Panel 32F in grey oak is one of them. That is not a trap, but it does mean the usual method of reading the numbers and picking the better one will get you nowhere. The choice has to be made somewhere else.

Why 32F and 31F read the same on paper

Both are quoted at 60 x 240 x 1.7cm, four boards to a pack, 5.76m² covered. Both are described as HDF slat construction with a felt backing, thicker than standard at 17mm, with veneer on three sides of every visible slat. Both come in grey oak. The written descriptions are identical, so nothing published tells you what separates them. Whatever it is, whether slat width, how the slats are grouped or how deep the gaps run, none of it is written down on either listing, and neither listing says the two are interchangeable.

So compare the photographs on the 32F product page against Wall Panel 31F in grey oak and judge the rhythm of the slats, which is the thing you will actually look at every day. If the images leave you unsure, that is a fair question to put to the shop, and a better use of five minutes than guessing.

What a pack reaches across

Every board is the full 240cm tall, so the only sum that matters is the width. Divide it by 0.6, round up, then round the boards up to packs of four. A chimney breast or an alcove usually comes out at two or three boards, which is a single pack with something left over for the next room or for a mistake.

Grey oak in a grey room

Grey is an easy finish to get wrong, because there is no such thing as one grey. A grey oak board has a grain in it, so it carries warmth that a flat painted grey does not, and it can look brown against a cool grey carpet or sofa. The listing describes the colour by name only, so the sensible check is to look at the photographs beside whatever grey is already in the room, in daylight. If it reads too warm, the plain greys elsewhere in the range are worth a look; if it reads too flat, the oak version of this board is Wall Panel 32H in oak.

The acoustic claim, without a number

The description says the felt backing absorbs sound and reduces noise transmission, and no figure is given for either. A felt-backed slatted face is the standard form of a sound-absorbing panel, so the claim is not odd, but there is nothing published here to design a room around. If the panelling is going into a room with a brief, ask the shop for the supplier's test data before you order. For a living room that simply rings a little, the panel is being bought on its looks anyway and the improvement is a bonus rather than a specification.

Before you add it to the basket

• Check the height of the wall in more than one place. Boards are 240cm, and a taller wall needs the join planned.
• Allow 1.7cm of build-out at the skirting, any architrave, the window reveals and the socket faceplates.
• Ask about the felt colour and whether the veneer is timber or a wood-effect finish; neither is on the listing.
• Order the edge trim with the boards, and ask which profile suits a 1.7cm panel.
• If the lighting is part of the plan, panel lighting is a separate group in the shop.

The whole selection sits in slat and acoustic panels, where the profiles can be compared side by side. Delivery is free within 50 miles of the Glasgow store and £50 beyond it. When the profile is settled and the boards are counted, order Wall Panel 32F in grey oak for the whole wall in one order.