One of the most common questions we get asked is simply how long it will take. It is a fair question, because unlike a lot of building work, panelling is often done in a room people are still living in — the lounge, the hallway, the main bedroom — and knowing whether you are losing a room for a day or a fortnight matters for planning around it.
The honest answer is that it depends on the room, but there is a fairly predictable pattern to how a panelling job runs from the first phone call through to a finished, painted wall. This guide walks through that timeline stage by stage.
Stage one: survey and drawing
Before anything is cut, someone needs to see the room. A survey visit usually takes thirty minutes to an hour, and covers measuring the wall, checking for sockets, radiators, coving and any obstacles, and talking through the design you have in mind. For a straightforward feature wall this can sometimes be done from good photos and measurements sent over, but for anything full height, in a hallway, or up a stairwell, a site visit is worth doing properly.
After the survey, we draw the panel layout — the widths, the rail heights, and how the pattern deals with sockets, radiators and door openings. This is usually turned around within a few days and sent over for you to look at before anything is ordered. It is worth taking your time at this stage; changing the layout on paper costs nothing, changing it once boards are cut costs real money.
Stage two: material lead time
Once the layout is agreed, materials are ordered. Standard moisture-resistant MDF and stock mouldings are often available within a few days. Specific mouldings, fluted panel sheets, veneered board or hardwood in a particular species can take one to three weeks depending on the supplier and how busy they are.
This is the stage people tend to underestimate. A job that only takes two days to fit can still be a month away from being booked in, simply because of when materials can arrive and when a fitting slot is free. If you have a deadline — a family visit, a house sale, a birthday — mention it at the survey stage, because it affects how far in advance materials need to be ordered.
A single feature wall: one day
A straightforward feature wall — a chimney breast, a bed head wall, a simple grid pattern on one wall of a lounge — is usually a one-day job. The morning is spent setting out and fixing the rails and panels, the afternoon filling, caulking and sanding ready for paint. If decoration is included, a single coat can sometimes go on the same day, with a second coat the following morning.
This is the job most people picture when they think about panelling, and it is genuinely quick, mainly because there is only one wall, no corners to turn, and usually no stairs or awkward access involved.
A dado-height room: one to two days
Panelling a full room to dado height — say a dining room or a study, with the panelling running round three or four walls at around a metre high — takes longer because every corner has to be set out to meet cleanly, and there are usually more sockets, radiators and skirting details to work round.
Expect one full day for fitting and a second day, sometimes just a half day, for filling, caulking and sanding. If the room has an awkward feature — a bay window, an old fireplace surround, uneven Victorian corners — build in extra time, because these are exactly the places that take longest to scribe in properly.
A hallway and stairwell: two to four days
Hallways and stairwells are the slowest rooms to panel, and it is almost never about the area of wall — it is the geometry. Every stair riser, every sloping ceiling line, and every turn in the stairs needs an individual template and a scribed cut, because nothing in an older staircase is perfectly straight or square.
A straightforward ground-floor hallway might be done in two days. A full stairwell running up two flights, with a half-landing and a sloped ceiling, can take three to four days. This is also usually the job with the most disruption, because the stairs themselves are often the only way to get up and down the house, so we plan the work in sections to keep at least one route usable.
A media wall: two to three days
Media walls take longer than a similar-sized feature wall because there is more going on inside the wall than on the face of it. The first day is often largely first-fix: building the frame, running cables and sockets, checking the fire clearances, and getting the recesses in the right place before anything is closed up.
The second day closes the wall in, fits the panelling or slats over the frame, and gets the television and fire positions finished. A third day is common where lighting is being wired in, where the design is more elaborate, or where filling and painting is included rather than left as a separate job.
Drying and curing: the part people forget
Fitting is only part of the timeline. Filler used on joints and fixing holes generally needs a few hours to go off before it can be sanded, which is why filling usually happens at the end of a fitting day rather than the start. Caulk needs to skin over — typically a few hours, longer in a cold or poorly ventilated room — before it can be painted over without smearing.
Paint itself needs proper drying time between coats, and needs longer than the tin suggests if the room is cold or damp. As a rule, allow a room to sit for at least a day after the final coat before pushing furniture back against the wall or letting anything lean on a fresh painted edge, since paint can look dry to the touch long before it has properly hardened.
Dust, noise and living in the house
Panelling is a relatively clean job compared with plastering or a full renovation, but it is not silent or dust-free. Cutting boards produces sawdust, sanding filler produces fine dust that settles on nearby surfaces, and a nail gun or drill running through the day is audible elsewhere in the house.
You do not need to move out for panelling work. Most households simply keep the door to the room shut during cutting and sanding, and we sheet up the floor and any furniture that cannot be moved out. Bedrooms and living rooms being worked on are usually unusable for sitting in during the working day, but are perfectly fine to sleep in once dust has settled and any fresh paint has had a few hours to dry, especially with a window left open.
What actually causes delays
A handful of things reliably push a job beyond its planned timeline, and most of them are avoidable with a bit of forward planning.
- Walls that are badly out of true and need packing out before fixing can begin
- Electrics that need moving — sockets relocated behind panelling should be done by a qualified electrician before the panelling stage, not squeezed in on the day
- Decorators booked separately whose schedule does not line up with when the panelling is ready for paint
- Deliveries running late, particularly with specialist mouldings or hardwood veneer
- Discovering damp or an unexpected repair needed once old skirting or coving is removed
Best time of year to book
Panelling can be fitted at any time of year, but there are small advantages to certain seasons. Paint and caulk dry and cure faster in a warm room, which is easier to guarantee in spring and summer with windows open for ventilation. Winter jobs are perfectly workable, just allow slightly longer for drying between coats, particularly in an unheated hallway or stairwell.
Autumn tends to be our busiest period, as people want rooms finished before Christmas, so booking a summer survey for an autumn fit gives the most flexibility on dates.
A realistic booking timeline
Putting the whole process together, from a first phone call to a finished room, a simple feature wall might realistically be complete within two to three weeks: a few days to arrange a survey, a week or so for materials, and a single day on site. A full hallway and stairwell or a bespoke media wall is more often four to six weeks from first contact to finished paintwork, mostly due to material lead times and finding a fitting slot for a multi-day job.
If you have a date in mind, the best thing to do is get in touch early. Call Bradley on 07833 227576, or the landline on 02380 201687, and we can talk through what is realistic for your room and your timescale, or email info@vipwalls.co.uk with some photos and rough measurements to get the ball rolling.
Common questions
- How long does one feature wall take to panel?
- Usually one day for fitting, filling and sanding, with paint added either the same day or the following morning depending on drying time.
- Do I need to move out of the house during panelling?
- No. Most jobs are done with the household living around the work. The room being panelled is usually unusable during the working day but fine to use again once dust has settled.
- How long does a hallway and stairwell take?
- Typically two to four days, because every stair riser and sloped ceiling line needs an individual scribed cut, which takes far longer than a flat wall.
- What causes panelling jobs to overrun?
- Uneven walls needing extra preparation, electrics that need moving first, late deliveries of specialist materials, and mismatched schedules with separately booked decorators.
- How long from first enquiry to a finished room?
- A simple feature wall is often two to three weeks from first call to finished paint. A full hallway, stairwell or bespoke media wall is more commonly four to six weeks, mostly due to material lead times.
- Is there a best time of year to have panelling fitted?
- Any time of year works. Spring and summer allow faster drying with windows open, while autumn is our busiest period as people aim to finish rooms before Christmas.
- How long should I wait before painting over fresh caulk?
- Let caulk skin over fully first, usually a few hours in a warm, ventilated room and longer in a cold one, before painting over it to avoid smearing the line.
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