How the calculation works
The formulas
Choose vertical or horizontal installation. Area purchasing deducts openings by area; grid purchasing conservatively keeps the full wall grid because opening locations and reusable cuts are unknown.
Area panels = ceil(net wall area ÷ panel area)
Grid panels = ceil(wall width ÷ oriented panel width) × ceil(wall height ÷ oriented panel height)
Purchase panels = ceil(chosen base × (1 + waste/100))
Assumptions to check
- Grid count treats each edge cut as a whole panel and does not optimize reuse.
- Net coverage is geometric; interlocking profiles and manufacturer tolerances need entered effective panel dimensions.
A worked example
A 5 × 2.7 m wall with vertical 0.6 × 2.4 m panels has a 9 × 2 grid: 18 panels, or 20 with 10% waste.