Wall Panel 84B Grey: measuring an outdoor wall before you order

Most people order outdoor panelling off a single tape measurement of the wall and then discover the awkward bits on fitting day. Wall Panel 84B in Grey comes twelve pieces to a pack, each 16 x 240 x 1cm, covering 4.61m² a pack, so a miscount is a whole pack either way. This is the order to measure in.

Measure the height first

The panels are 240cm long. If your wall is taller than that, you have a horizontal joint somewhere whether you plan for it or not, and the only choice you have is where it lands. Decide that before anything else. A joint at eye level on a courtyard wall is the one you will keep noticing; a joint low down, behind a bench or a planter, is the one nobody sees. If the wall is shorter than 240cm, every panel gets cut, so measure its height in three places, because render and brickwork are rarely level.

Then measure around the things on the wall

Outdoor walls carry hardware, and each piece of it changes the count:

• an outside tap or a hose reel, which needs a panel notched rather than a panel skipped
• a rainwater downpipe, which either sits proud of the panelling or forces a break in the run
• a meter or isolation box that has to stay accessible, so the panels around it need to come off again
• lights, sockets and their cable runs, which are easier to move before panels go up than after
• a gate or door architrave, which sets the line everything else squares off from

Measure the wall width, subtract nothing for the obstacles, then add a panel for each notch or cut you have just listed. Panels are 16cm across the face, so one spare panel buys you 16cm of mistake.

Grey next to what you already have

Grey is the finish that most often has to sit beside something else grey: render, a fence panel, a paving slab, an aluminium frame. Those greys rarely match, and a near miss reads worse than a deliberate contrast. The listing names the colour and nothing more, so judge it from the photographs on the 84B product page in the light your wall actually gets, and ask the shop whether a sample piece can be seen before you order a boundary run. The slats are 2.4cm wide with a 1.4cm space between them, and that gap throws a shadow line that will darken the overall tone compared with a flat grey board.

What the listing does not settle

It describes an engineered composite for outdoor use and calls the panels UV resistant, with resistance to fading, warping and moisture damage. It does not quote a test standard, a fire rating, a panel weight or a fixing centre, and it does not say what the wall behind needs to be. Brickwork, render, timber and a fence frame are four different jobs. Ask the shop which fixings suit yours.

What finishes it

The listing names Wall Panel 84 Trim at 240cm for the edges and Bracket For Outdoor Panels in a pack of fifty, which it recommends for installation; both are separate items in outdoor trims and fittings, so check what the box contains. Also listed in grey, Wall Panel 92B in Grey is the other 240cm twelve-piece pack and Wall Panel 87B in Grey runs to 290cm in packs of six for a taller wall. Neither listing says its grey is the same grey as this one, so ask before you mix groups on a single elevation. If grey turns out to be too cool against warm brick, Wall Panel 84A in Oak 03 is the identical pack in a wood tone. Browse the rest under outdoor wall panels.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond it.