Cost Drivers #3: Wall Panel Details

The offices of Cole real estate investment -- photo from GL veneer website

A mainstay of contemporary modern interiors are these veneered wall panel details. To the uninitiated, these types of wall paneling seem straightforward. Simply attach plywood panels to the walls. To really pull off this detail in a way that looks correct though takes much more planning and precision than meets the eye.

Prep Work

The room either needs to be perfect or be made perfect. These types of panel walls were first popularized in commercial interiors where the floors are concrete and the ceilings are either tall and open or a drop ceiling treatment of some variety. In residential spaces, there is usually a lot more variation in floors and ceilings as wood substructures are more prone to movement and irregularity than steel and concrete. The floors and ceilings must be parallel, the inside and outside corners need to be parallel, and if there are any humps or bumps in the walls, they need to be corrected. Perfecting walls is a tedious, time-consuming task. I allow 2-4 hours per 16 foot x 8 foot wall section.

The Materials

Veneered wall panels are generally made from a composite core panel material like particle board or MDF which is then veneered with a thin layer of decorative wood. Each panel has to be balanced so that it remains perfectly flat. This means that the panels are veneered not only on the visible surface, but the back surface is veneered too with some type of balance veneer—usually either phenolic backer or an inexpensive wood like poplar or birch. When there is a difference in surface tension, an unbalanced panel tends to cup as moisture levels equalize.

It’s common to use factory-veneered panels that are mass-produced, but this type of veneered panel isn’t ideal for a number of reasons. First of all, factory veneered panels are veneered with a very thin layer of decorative wood. This layer is very easy to sand through during finishing, and over time if the panels are worn or damaged, it can’t really be refinished or repaired very easily. You’re also not going to generally get top grades of veneer laid up on mass-market sheet goods. The very best veneer is kept as veneer for the luxury market. For more information on veneer panel grades, States Industries has a nice write-up on their web site.

The highest grade of veneered wall panels are made from custom lay-ups of veneer that are stitched together, glued and pressed in a large industrial press. This type of veneer usually comes in thicknesses ranging from .023" - .038", substantially thicker than what you find on manufactured sheet goods. The standard veneer thickness in manufactured sheet goods used to be 1/42" (.024") for raw veneer, but many manufacturers are shipping panels that conform to international standards of .5mm (.0197"). These panels are sanded after lay-up, making the veneer even thinner that that before they leave the manufacturer.

The types of shops set up to do custom veneer work are generally very large operations with high overhead costs which are factored into their retail price. While custom panel companies are out there such as GL, they charge a substantial premium over what you would find at your local specialty lumber yard. Expect to pay on average 2-4x more than a premium mass-market sheet good.

It’s also important to consider the continuity of the veneer. High end installs are typically done with sequence-matched veneer, meaning that the flitch of veneer is laid up in the order it was cut from the log, creating a very consistent, natural appearance. The American Woodworking Institute has defined the layout standards for this kind of application in excruciating detail.

from AWI standards, ©2014 AWI | AWMAC | WI 2nd Edition, October 1, 2014

The problem with sequenced panels though is if someone makes a mistake and lays up something wrong, mis-cuts an outlet hole, or installs a panel upside down, it’s a very big problem. This adds risk and risk adds expense.

Installation

High end panel installations generally use all hidden-fasteners, so you won’t see any screw holes, nail holes, or other hardware. That means some precise layout, because you’re attaching mounting hardware both on the panel and on the wall that have to line up with zero adjustment. This is time-consuming and error-prone. To add another layer of complication, the panel seams need to be equally-spaced. Speaking of panel seams, do you want an even space that casts a shadow line in between the panels, or do you want a tight seam that blends in and disappears? To create a shadow line, it requires some edge treatment like edge banding (a strip of veneer applied to the edge of the panel). Of course the AWI has drawn up many of these details too for your reference.

The Frustration of Bidding Paneling

These types of details can be done perfectly, creating a beautiful feature that incorporates some luxury into your interior. However, if your millwork shop takes shortcuts, it won’t even look acceptable. Two adjacent panels slightly out of alignment look terrible. When panels are slightly out of level, they take on this stair-stepping look where the discrepancy grows from right to left, leaving unsightly gaps at the floor. The difference between doing a really nice veneered wall detail and simply attaching some veneered sheet goods to the walls is a night and day difference in cost. A contractor who simply wants to Liquid Nails sheets of plywood to the walls and brad nail the edges will under-bid me by a factor of 10 or more. Expect pricing to start in the $1,500-$2,500 per 4x8 sheet as a rule of thumb for a veneer panel wall, installed and go up from there for exotics or more complex layouts.

Anyways, I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions or would like a custom veneered panel wall of your own.