How many wood slat panels or slats your wall needs

How the slat wall calculator works

Slat panels and slats are counted in columns: first how many columns fit across the wall, then how many pieces fill each column from floor to top. Wall area only comes in for the adhesive and screws on panels.

1. Panel columns. Wall width ÷ panel width, rounded up. The last panel is cut to what is left: on a 10 ft wall with 12 in panels you get 10 full columns, on an 11 ft 6 in wall the twelfth column is 6 in wide. WoodUpp's guide trims a panel's width by cutting the felt with a knife.
2. Slat columns. (wall width + gap) ÷ (slat width + gap). The whole number is the full slats, laid from one edge. If there is still room after the last gap, you need one more slat ripped to width; if less than a gap is left, the gap against the wall ends up a little narrower than the others.
3. Pieces up the wall. If the piece is longer than the wall, every column is one piece cut down at the top. If it is shorter, every column has a joint: a short piece sits above the full ones, and all the short pieces are cut from the same extra pieces. With 94 1/2 in panels on a 96 in wall, each column needs another 1 1/2 in, and one panel gives 63 of those strips.
4. Extra and boxes. Pieces to fit plus the extra, divided by the pieces in a box and rounded up. The calculator starts at 5% for a bad cut; set it to 0 if you already have spares.

Adhesive and screws. For panels, WoodUpp gives about half a tube of glue per panel, or 15 screws per panel. Those figures are for its 60 cm (23 5/8 in) wide panel, so for a 12 in panel the calculator starts at 4 panels per tube and 8 screws per panel (15 × 12 ÷ 23.6 = 7.6, rounded up). It applies them to the wall area divided by the area of one panel, so a panel cut down to 6 in does not count as a whole one. For slats it counts a 1/4 in bead down the full length of each slat: the Liquid Nails LN-606 data sheet gives about 30 linear ft of 1/4 in bead per 10 oz tube. With screws it puts one every 12 in on each piece, the spacing the same sheet uses for nailing glued molding.

A worked example

A 10 × 8 ft accent wall covered with 12 × 96 in wood slat panels sold in boxes of 2, glued, with 5% extra. These are the values the calculator opens with in US units.

• Columns: 120 ÷ 12 = 10, no cut panel
• Height: each 96 in panel fits the 8 ft wall exactly: 10 panels to fit
• With the extra: 10 × 1.05 = 10.5 panels, 10.5 ÷ 2 = 5.25, so 6 boxes (12 panels)
• Adhesive: 80 sq ft ÷ 8 sq ft per panel = 10 panels, 10 ÷ 4 = 2.5, so 3 tubes
• With screws instead of adhesive: 10 × 8 = 80 screws

The same wall in single slats, 1 1/2 in wide with a 3/4 in gap and 8 ft long: (120 + 3/4) ÷ (1 1/2 + 3/4) = 53.67, so 53 full slats covering 118 1/2 in. That leaves 1 1/2 in: after one more 3/4 in gap there is room for a slat ripped to 3/4 in, 54 slats in all. With the extra, 54 × 1.05 = 56.7, so 57 slats. The bead runs 54 × 8 = 432 ft, and 432 ÷ 30 = 14.4 makes 15 tubes. With one screw every 12 in you need 9 per slat, 486 in all.

In the UK, a 3.40 × 2.70 m wall with 60 × 300 cm panels sold singly gives 6 columns, the last 40 cm wide, and 6 panels cut down to 2.70 m: 7 panels with 5% extra and 3 tubes of adhesive.

How many slat panels or slats for a wall: chart

An 8 ft high wall, pieces to fit before the extra. The numbers come from the calculator.

Wall width	12 × 96 in panels	Boxes of 2	1 1/2 in slats, 3/4 in gap
8 ft	8	4	43
10 ft	10	5	54
12 ft	12	6	64
14 ft	14	7	75

The slat column assumes 8 ft slats. On a wall taller than the slat, every column gets a joint and the count goes up.

Panel sizes, adhesive and screws

Wood slat panel sizes vary by brand: NeatiEase sells a 4-piece pack of 96 × 12.6 in panels, while WoodUpp's Akupanel is 240 × 60 cm (94 1/2 × 23 5/8 in), with a 300 cm version on its UK site. Read the width and length on the product page and enter them. If they come in boxes, enter the pieces per box and the receipt counts boxes.

For single slats, strapping (furring strip) typically measures 3/4 × 1 1/2 in, and the 1 1/2 in face is the one you see. Measure the visible face of the slat you buy, because that decides how many slats fit. The gap is up to you; a spacer block cut to size keeps it even.

For adhesive the calculator starts at 30 ft of bead per tube, the Liquid Nails LN-606 figure for a 1/4 in bead from a 10 oz tube. In the UK, F.H. Brundle gives about 10 m for its 290 ml cartridge with a 6 mm bead. The LN-606 sheet asks for a zigzag bead, which is longer than the slat: if you apply it that way, lower the coverage in the advanced options. WoodUpp fits its panels with black 35 mm (1 3/8 in) drywall screws through the felt, and after cutting a panel it screws the loose slat ends back with screws of about 15 mm (5/8 in).

Common mistakes

• Dividing the wall area by the area of one slat. On the 10 × 8 ft wall, 80 sq ft ÷ (1 1/2 in × 8 ft) gives 80 slats, but 54 are enough: there is a gap between slats.
• Forgetting the last column. An 11 ft 6 in wall takes 12 columns of 12 in panels, not 11.
• Counting one slat per column when the slat is shorter than the wall. With 8 ft slats on a 9 ft wall, the 54 columns need 54 + 7 = 61 slats.
• Guessing the adhesive. A bead on every slat adds up: 15 tubes for the slat example against 3 for panels on the same wall.
• Leaving the slats loose after a cut. WoodUpp warns that the slat ends of a cut panel can hang loose unless you screw them back to the felt.