Wall Panel 61A Oak PVC: slat pitch, cover and what it is not

Wall Panel 61A in oak effect is one of the few panels here that publishes enough to plan the pattern properly. The listing gives a 2.4cm slat with a 1.4cm space between slats, on panels of 30 x 240 x 1cm, eight to a pack, covering 5.76m². It is PVC with a black reinforcement behind the slats, and the shop supplies it as it comes.

The repeat, and where it lands

A slat plus its gap is 3.8cm. That is the rhythm the eye reads along the wall, and it is the figure to work with when you decide where a join or a cut should fall. Across a 30cm panel, 3.8cm goes a little under eight times, and the listing does not say how the slats meet the panel edge. So the detail to look for on the photographs is the join between two panels: whether the gap at the seam looks the same width as every other gap. On a narrow panel there are more seams than on a 60cm one, which makes it worth a minute.

Eight narrow panels instead of four wide ones

• Easier to handle. A 30cm panel goes up a stairwell or through a loft hatch where a 60cm one fights you.
• Finer adjustment. The remainder at the end of a wall is measured in 30cm steps, so an awkward width wastes less.
• More seams. Eight panels across the same 2.4m of wall means seven vertical joints rather than three. On a busy wood-effect face they read as part of the pattern, but look before you buy.
• 1cm thick. That is 0.7cm less than the felt-backed panels in the same range, which is the figure to take to the junctions: how the panel lands against your skirting and whether a door still opens back flat to the wall both depend on your own mouldings, so measure them rather than assume either way.

What this listing claims, and what it does not

The description calls the PVC moisture and wear resistant and puts it in kitchens, bathrooms and commercial spaces. It makes no sound absorption claim at all, and that is the important difference from the felt-backed lines in the same range: there is a black reinforcement behind these slats rather than an acoustic felt. If echo is the problem you are solving, look at a felt-backed panel such as 42H in oak instead, whose own listing is the one that describes the backing and the sound claim. Nothing on the page gives a fire classification, a temperature limit, or a rating for use inside a shower enclosure as distinct from a splash-prone room, so ask about whichever of those applies to your wall.

Trims, and ordering

The listing names Strip A as its trim and stops there. It does not say where that strip goes, so count your visible edges, ends, internal corners and external corners, and ask us which strip finishes each one and what length it is sold in. For the panels themselves, divide the wall width by 30cm, round up to whole panels, then divide by eight and round up again. For the same oak effect under the neighbouring code, compare 62A; for a darker face, 61D in dark oak carries the same slat and gap figures. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. Photographs, the code AWS-WP036 and the order form are on the Wall Panel 61A oak PVC page, within Slat & Acoustic Panels.