Wall Panel 82A Oak: one centimetre thick, and where it shows

Thickness is the figure people skip and the one that causes the arguments on fitting day. Wall Panel 82A is listed at 15 x 240 x 1cm. The listing does not label which of the three figures is which, and the 1cm reads as the thickness, so on that reading the wall it goes on gets a centimetre closer to you. Confirm it with us before you plan around it. That sounds like nothing. Here is where it is not nothing. The full listing is on the Wall Panel 82A oak pack page.

Four places a centimetre turns up

• The skirting. Either it comes off and the panel runs to the floor, or the panel stops on top of it and you see a 1cm step. The listing specifies neither, so this is your decision to make before the first piece goes up, not after.
• Sockets and switches. A faceplate screwed to the old wall now sits 1cm below the new surface. That usually means a spacer or a deeper box, and it is electrical work. Plan it with whoever does your wiring, because the listing says nothing about it.
• A door that opens against the wall. The clear opening loses a centimetre, and a door that already brushes a handle or a radiator can stop closing.
• The architrave and the window reveal. Panelling up to an architrave 1cm proud looks deliberate. Panelling into a reveal needs a return piece or a strip, and the listing does not describe how to form one.

For comparison, the fluted Wall Panel 80A in the same oak family is listed at 1.5cm, so half a centimetre more again on every one of those four points.

Twelve pieces, 1.8 metres of wall

Twelve faces of 15cm make 180cm, and each piece is 240cm long, which is where the 4.32m² comes from. One thing to query, though. On the fluted panels in this range the width is explicitly qualified as the measurement when fitted and interlocked. This listing carries no such qualifier, so ask us whether the 15cm is the covered width or the full width of a loose board before you count your pieces to the centimetre. On a wall where the last piece has to fit an exact gap, the difference matters.

The 82 Trim, and counting your edges

This profile has a finishing piece named after it: Wall Panel 82 Trim, ten pieces at 240cm. Confirm with us that it is the right one for your edges, then count before you order. You want a length for every exposed vertical edge where the panelling stops mid-wall, every external corner it turns, and the top edge if the panels finish below the ceiling. Ordering the trims in the same delivery as the panels is the difference between finishing the wall and looking at a cut edge until a second parcel turns up.

What the listing does not put in writing

Stated: PVC with a wood-effect finish, oak tone, and that the colour runs consistently from piece to piece, which is all the word seamless is claiming. Not stated: the fixing method, the fire classification, how to cut it or with what, and any acoustic performance, which this panel does not claim in its name. Adhesive for Wall Panels is a separate listing, so ask whether it suits a 1cm board on your wall.

The same panel in grey is Wall Panel 82B and in walnut Wall Panel 82T. Everything else is in Slat & Acoustic Panels. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond.

Decide the skirting question, count your pieces, then order from the Wall Panel 82A listing with the trim in the same basket.