Wall Panel 88A Oak: how many packs a wall takes, and why

Ordering exterior cladding goes wrong in one of two ways: a pack short halfway up a wall, or two packs too many sitting in the garage. The Wall Panel 88A - Oak - Outdoor - 290cm gives you exactly the figures needed to avoid both, so this is a post about arithmetic rather than adjectives. Code AWS-OWP020, six panels a pack, from the Outdoor Wall Panels range.

The two numbers that decide the order

The listing publishes a panel size of 16 x 290 x 2cm, when fitted and interlocked, and an area of 2.78m² per pack of six, on the same interlocked basis. Treat 2.78m² as the figure you buy by and 290cm as the figure you plan by. The first tells you how many packs; the second tells you where the joints and offcuts fall, which is the part people forget.

The published size is given as three numbers without labels. 290cm is the length. The 16cm reads as the cover width and 2cm as the thickness, but confirm that reading with the shop before you commit to a cutting list.

A worked example

Say a rear garden wall is 3.6m wide and you are cladding to 2.4m high. That is 8.64m² of face. Divided by 2.78m², it comes to a little over three packs, so four packs is the order, with the balance absorbed by cuts and by the piece you should keep back. Now look at it the other way: run the panels vertically and each 290cm length is cut down to 2.4m, leaving a 50cm offcut from every single panel. Run them horizontally across 3.6m instead and each row needs one full panel plus a 70cm piece, which the offcuts can supply. Same wall, same packs, very different amount of waste, and the length is what decides it.

Vertical or horizontal

Nothing in the listing restricts the panel to one orientation, and nothing in it endorses the other, so this is a judgement for whoever fits it. What the numbers tell you is that a 290cm panel is generous for a standard fence or boundary height and short of two full storeys, which makes a single uncut run very likely on a garden wall and very unlikely on a gable. If the wall is taller than one panel, decide early where the horizontal joint sits; eye level is the one place you do not want it.

The parts that finish the edges

Count external corners and exposed ends at the same time as the area. The listing names the Wall Panel 88/89 End Trim - 290cm and the Wall Panel 88/89 Corner Trim - 290cm as the matching parts, each sold in its own pack of four and ordered separately. If the oak tone is not quite the one you had in mind, Wall Panel 88B - Grey Oak - Outdoor - 290cm and Wall Panel 88D - Dark Oak - Outdoor - 290cm carry the same dimensions in different colours.

What the figures cannot tell you

The description covers material in general terms only: engineered PVC composite, textured slats, UV resistant. There is no slat width or gap published for this panel, no weight per panel or per pack, no fixing centres and no named clip or bracket. None of that stops you working out quantities, but all of it matters to the person fitting, so collect the answers from the shop before the job starts.

When the sums are done, order the panels here: Wall Panel 88A - Oak - Outdoor - 290cm. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store, and £50 beyond that.