The Convenience of Slatwall Panels

Those horizontally grooved walls that you often see in department stores that hold everything from clothes hangers to storage shelves and hooks are called slatwall panels. As the name suggests, they are manufactured with grooves to resemble slats and they provide you with the perfect base from which all kinds of things can be hung.

Slatwall panels are a very handy and functional wall solution that is available in a variety of colors and styles although there is no suggestion that they will be used as interior decorating solutions any time soon. They make ideal wall solutions for shop and garage workshops giving you display, storage and shelving options where none existed before. After the initial installation your drilling requirements end.

While they were initially designed as a handy way to give the retail sector fast and versatile display options they have also become quite useful at home. The shelving and brackets can be used in kitchen pantries and the hooks and hangers have a multitude of uses throughout various rooms in the house.

The panels are constructed of ¾ inch MDF (medium density fiberboard) and are coated with a melamine laminate or veneer finish.

Different types of slatwall panels are made to a variety of specifications but generally they are available in sizes of 4’ x 8’, 5’ x 8’, 4’ x 10’ and 5’ x 10’. The slatwall grooving is also spaced at a variety of distances depending on your needs. You might be after grooves that are 3” apart, but it can be found with groove spacing up to 12”.

Slatwall panels are available in a wide variety of colors and are made in melamine with solid colors, melamine with woodgrain overlay, wood veneers, high pressure laminate and more. It is an extremely versatile product.

The most recommended installation solution for slatwall panels would be to get professional installers in to the job. But if you have a small installation job to do, then it would be easier to do the installation yourself.

Installing slatwall panels is simplicity itself because they can be screwed into the existing wall over a drywall or plaster wall without any problems. After you’ve got your panels positioned and ready to go you can start by applying an adhesive to the back for a permanent fixture.

Using drywall screws or other wood screws you simply screw the panels to the wall. To give the panels sufficient strength you should screw them at every second groove. The screws should be driven in through the center of the back of the grooves into the wall studs and you should be careful when doing so that you don’t damage the lips of the grooves.

Part of the installation process will involve cutting some of the panels to size. If you want to cut your slatwall panels to size you can either use a table saw, in which case you should cut the panels face up, or a circular saw, in which case you would cut the panels face down.

One of the very convenient types of storage accessories for use with slatwall panels are slatwall storage bins. These small containers will enable you to store small items neatly. They will work perfectly in a store, such as a hardware store for presenting screws, nuts, bolts, washers or similar items. Toy stores would benefit when presenting marbles, elastics or other small components.

Slatwall storage bins would also be the perfect solution in medical situations such as hospitals, pharmacies or surgeries where there are many small items that should be kept clean and in order. The fact that these slatwall bins can be fitted straight into the wall means that they can be positioned wherever they will be most conveniently accessed.

Of course, domestic situations such as the garage or the workshop will benefit greatly from having slatwall bins in use. There are many items that can be kept stored neatly in these bins. They are available in a range of colors or clear plastic so you could even create a color coding system to make your storage system even more advanced.

Different types of slatwall storage bins include boxes that measure 4.5 inches x 5.5 inches, wide storage boxes measuring 4.5 inches x 11.4 inches and storage cubes measuring 5.9 inches x 5.9 inches. For slightly larger storage solutions you can also buy bigger storage boxes measuring 10.8 inches x 10.8 inches.

There are many different sizes and shapes of slatwall hooks that can be used with the various types of slatwall panels and shelving units that go with the entire assembly. These hooks are available for sale at tiny prices and can be bought as packs of 100 or more to lower the cost even more.

It is possible to buy smaller chrome hooks that are only 4 inches long and pegboard hooks that are 6 inches long or longer 10 inch hooks that can hold even larger items.

It doesn’t matter how small your needs are or how large the goods to be hung are, there will be a set of slatwall hooks that will cater for your needs. Buying these hooks through auction, such as the eBay lots that are displayed here, will allow you the luxury of choosing from a huge range of hooks that are available in different sized lots.

Whether you only need 25 10” hooks or 100 4” hooks there is bound to be some available at a very low price.

The whole reason for installing slatwall panels is because of the options that are available in storage solutions. Hardware such as picture hooks, shelf brackets, wire baskets, slatwall hangers, hang rails and more will give you plenty of display options.

Once the slatwall panels have been put in place the entire display process will be immeasurably simplified. It will also give you the option to move displays around. The slatwall hooks can simply be slipped into place and they are immediately usable or, if they are in the wrong place, they can be removed and placed elsewhere with no further drilling or installation.

Although you will be most likely to see slatwall panels and their accompanying slatwall accessories in stores holding up store displays, the panels are also available for home use. Installing slatwall panels into your garage or workshop will give you the perfect organizational structure for all of your tools. Keeping the garage neat and tidy will be an absolute breeze.

Plastic slatwall containers are perfect for small items such as screws, nuts, nails or bolts. They are made from toughened polypropylene and are available in a variety of configurations.

Slatwall accessories are ridiculously cheap too, with hooks, shelving units, brackets and hangers only costing you a few dollars.

The aluminum metal inserts can be cut using a carbide tipped saw blade. You can make sure the inserts don’t shift during cutting by taping along the edges of the panel.

When using slatwall panels the shelving and other storage choices are made adjustable by the use of slatwall brackets. These brackets are available in all kinds of sizes and varieties depending on the type of storage item that you are using on the wall.

Slatwall brackets aren’t only used to hold shelving in place. These brackets can be used to position hangers and hooks at whatever height or configuration you desire either alone or in combination with other slatwall accessories. The garage is the perfect place for these brackets to be used because there are many items that can be hung up within the garage and without this sort of bracketing system the task of getting the system in place would be considerably larger.

The sorts of slatwall fixtures that you may choose include hooks, hangers, pegs, holders and acrylic displays. Although they have been designed for retail situations they are also extremely handy in the home with a lot of good uses being made of them in the kitchen in walk-in pantries and closets.

Buying slatwall brackets is an extremely simple task with the opportunity to buy in bulk to save a considerable amount of money. Take a look at the selection of brackets available here.

A slatwall gondola is a free-standing shelving unit made from slatwall panels. Not only do you get a solid set of shelfs but the slatwall panelling allows you to add slatwall display hooks and acrylic displays to create a multi-functional unit.

A reasonably sized slatwall gondola gives you a four sided display unit that can be positioned in the middle of the floor providing an enormous amount of display space.

You can use a slatwall gondola made up to all kinds of sizes that can be fitted into small spaces. The whole point of using these units is to maximize the display surface that you fit in the store.

The slatwall acrylic displays are extremely handy because they can simply be hooked into the slats where they can either lie flat on the wall to be used as a sign holder or they can be placed on an angle to present shoes or other items.

The larger acrylic displays can be used to display T-shirts or sweaters so that the design or motifs can be properly seen. Another alternative for these displays is as a small shelf to use to highlight a single object away from the rest of the products.

Take a look at the selection of different sized slatwall acrylic displays for sale. They are available in packs of 6, 8 or 10 and can be found for around $1 per display.

If you are looking for a cheap option to line the walls of the workshop or the garage a great choice would be to make use of used slatwall and accessories. Stores that have gone out of business or that are going through a refurbishment process will have old used slatwall panels that it will be looking to get rid of. In some cases they may be found simply discarded but even if they are not, there are plenty of opportunities to buy the used panels and slatwall fixtures, hooks and shelving at very little cost.

There is no real limit to the height that slatwall panels should be in garages. If you feel as though you require floor to ceiling slatwalls then there is no problem placing it all the way to the ceiling. The only questions should be whether you will be able to reach the items that are going to be hung from the slatwall and whether there will be enough clearance to place them on the slatwall brackets or shelves.

Similarly there is no requirement for the same sized slatwall panelling to be put up along the one wall. It is possible to place a panel with narrow slats next to or on top of a panel with wider slats. It all depends on your personal requirements.

Apart from gondolas there are small slatwall display systems that are available to be added to walls and stand-alone units. Creating a slatwall display should be a simple process of summing up the products that you have to be displayed and determining the most suitable fixture to add to the wall. In some cases it might be most appropriate to create a cascading hook display which will make the most use of the space available, in others, display shelves scattered on the wall might be sufficient.

In all of this there are all kinds of slatwall shelving units available to allow you to cater for any sized product that must be displayed. Acrylic display shelves give you the opportunity to place the shelves higher on the wall and the products will still be visible from below.

If the appearance of your slatwall is a concern and you want to ensure the walls look properly finished it might be worthwhile purchasing and using slatwall inserts. These inserts are available in a range of colors to match the slatwall panelling and can be snapped into the grooves of the slatwall to hide any exposed particle board or the mounting screws that were used to attach the panels to the wall.

As well as providing a professional finish to the wall, stronger inserts made from extruded aluminium will provide added weight bearing capacity to the slatwall. So not only will you have walls that look good you will also be able to hang larger and heavier objects without having to worry over whether the weight will bring the whole lot crashing down.

There is quite a large selection of slatwall inserts available and they can be found in an array of different materials. You can choose from the selection displayed here or click on a product to be taken to a wider selection of slatwall inserts to buy.