Wood panel partitions do a lot of quiet work in a project. They screen a bathroom wall, wrap a wet area, carry a vanity, and set the line that every other finish in the room is measured against. Because they are made to the room rather than bought off a shelf, the supplier you choose matters more than the panel board you specify. This is what a project buyer should check before committing a Wood Panel Partitions package to one source.
Can they make it to your drawings, not just to their catalogue?
Partitions and panelling are custom work. Ask the supplier to show how they handle a made-to-measure request end to end:
- Whether they work from your drawings and site dimensions, or expect you to fit their standard module sizes.
- How a quotation is built up: panel by panel, with cut list, edge treatment and fixings shown separately.
- How a non-standard detail is handled — a return around a pillar, an inset for a mirror, a curved run, or a niche for shelving.
- Who produces the shop drawings, and whether they are issued for your approval before production starts.
A supplier who issues shop drawings for sign-off is doing the cheap part of quality control for you. A supplier who goes straight into production is saving themselves time and storing up a site problem.
How they specify the build-up
A partition in a bathroom or a wet area is a construction, not a board. Ask for the make-up to be written out:
- Substrate: board type and thickness, and what grade is proposed for a humid environment.
- Water and moisture protection at the base, at floor level, and around any basin or shower interface.
- Finish system: veneer, lacquer, melamine or acrylic, with the number of coats and the curing method where a sprayed finish is involved.
- Edge and joint detail, including how expansion and movement are taken up between panels.
- Fixing method to the wall or floor, and the fixings specified for the substrate actually on site.
Samples and finish approval
- A physical sample of the panel build-up, not just a colour swatch — you want to see the edge and the substrate with the finish on it.
- The finish reference in writing: a colour code, a sheen figure or band, and the direction of any wood grain.
- The signed sample retained and referenced against every later shipment.
- The cleaning and maintenance guidance for the finish, agreed before handover rather than argued about afterwards.
Coordination with the rest of the fit-out
Partitions never arrive alone. They touch flooring, wall finishes, doors, vanities, mirrors and lighting, and the failures are almost always at those junctions.
- Whether the supplier coordinates against the adjacent trades' drawings — floor build-up, tiled set-out, and electrical positions.
- Whether the same supplier can also provide the joinery around it, such as vanity units, wardrobe carcasses, doors and wall panelling, so the finishes match from one production source.
- Who is responsible for the junction detail between the panel and the tile, the glass screen and the skirting.
- How the ceiling interface and any bulkhead are resolved on the drawing, before site.
Sourcing panelling together with the rest of the joinery removes the worst argument on site — whose item is out of true. SANTERSON works as a furniture and building materials manufacturer supplying custom partitions and panelling alongside cabinetry, wardrobe carcasses, doors, engineered flooring and bathroom fixtures, with custom and OEM service covering bespoke finishes and dimensions.
Production capacity and schedule reality
- Lead time for the finish you have chosen, stated as production time and separately as transit time.
- Whether the run is a repeatable production line or a one-off trial panel, which is what happens with awkward projects.
- How multiple units across several bathrooms or floors are sequenced, numbered and packed.
- What is confirmed on the shop drawing versus what is decided on site.
Ask for the programme in stages — drawing issue, sample approval, production, shipment, installation. A single "weeks" figure hides where the risk sits.
Delivery, installation and after sales
- Incoterms and delivery destination, and whether door-to-door delivery with customs paperwork is available for your project.
- Packaging standard for panel edges and finished faces in transit.
- Whether on-site installation, inspection and snagging are included, and by whose team.
- Warranty terms with exclusions, and the process and lead time for a replacement panel or door.
Before you send the enquiry
- Send room layouts and wall elevations with site dimensions, including heights and out-of-level allowances.
- State the environment each partition is in: wet area, dry wall, or partially exposed.
- Give the finish references you want matched, with the sample you are working from.
- Attach the adjacent trades' drawings, so the junction details can be priced rather than deferred.
- Ask for the quotation as a panel schedule, and for shop drawings for approval before production.
Compare quotations on the same build-up, and the comparison is worth something. Product ranges for panelling and partitions, together with the rest of the range, are listed in the product catalogue on the SANTERSON site.