Wall Panel 41K Shadow Oak: 41 or 42, and how to choose

Two shadow oak panels in this range carry almost the same listing. Wall Panel 41K in shadow oak is a felt-backed slat panel we buy in, sold four to a pack at 60 x 240 x 1.7cm each and 5.76m² of face area. Its 42K neighbour quotes those same numbers, to the millimetre. If you are choosing between them from a screen, that is the real problem to solve, so start there rather than with the colour.

Same numbers, different code

Here is everything the 41K page publishes about the panel itself:

• Panel size given as 60 x 240 x 1.7cm, in that order, with no note of which figure is width, which is height and which is depth off the wall, so confirm that with us before you cut anything
• Four pieces in a pack
• 5.76m² covered per pack
• HDF slats on a felt backing, in a shadow oak finish
• Code AWS-HWP012

What it does not publish is the slat width, the gap between the slats, or the thing that separates the 41 profile from the 42. Neither listing explains it, so the only published difference between this panel and 42K in the same shadow oak is the photographs. Open both, compare the slat rhythm, and if it still matters, ask us which profile is the wider of the two before the order goes in. 32K is a third shadow oak, named as a three-sided panel, though the listing does not explain what the third side is, so treat that name as a question for us as well.

Shadow oak names a tone, not a timber

Nothing on the page says what the face is: no wood species, no veneer, no print, no sheen level. Two photographs are published and both were taken under somebody else's lighting. If the panel has to live beside a floor, a wardrobe door or a worktop you already own, do not settle the match by eye on a screen. Ask whether a piece can be seen in the shop, or ask us for a photograph of a single panel face in daylight. A slatted wall also shows its backing in every gap, and the felt colour is not stated either.

Setting the wall out in 60cm steps

Panels are sold by the pack but fitted one at a time, so count panels. Divide your wall width by 60 and look at the remainder. A 3.4m wall takes five full panels and a 40cm cut, which is six panels, so two packs with two spare. Put that cut in an internal corner or behind where a sofa back will sit, or split the remainder between both ends so it reads as a border rather than a mistake. Measure floor to ceiling at both ends as well: 240cm covers most rooms, but a bulkhead or a deep coving can take the height below the panel, and the 1.7cm depth needs somewhere to go where the panelling meets a skirting, an architrave or a socket plate.

The questions to send with your measurements

1. Slat width and gap, since the pattern is the thing you are buying.
2. Any acoustic test data. The description says the felt backing absorbs sound and reduces noise transmission, but no figure, class or frequency is quoted anywhere.
3. A fire classification, which matters if the wall is in a workplace rather than a bedroom.
4. The fixing method, which is not named. We sell adhesive for wall panels by the pack, but this listing does not specify it, so check it suits both the panel and your wall.

Order the whole wall in one go, because nothing on the page promises that two batches will match. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. Photographs, the code and the order form are on the Wall Panel 41K shadow oak page, and the rest of the profiles sit in Slat & Acoustic Panels.