A buyer in Rotterdam ordered what he called a 180 cm screen. What arrived stood 186 cm tall, covered 153 cm of wall, and folded down to 51 cm wide. He had wanted all three numbers to be 180. Nobody was lying to him. The catalogue had simply used one number where the product has four.
This is the single most common dispute in the screen trade, and it is entirely avoidable. Room divider sizes are not one dimension. They are a short list of dimensions that behave independently, and every one of them has a different consequence for your landed cost, your shelf fit and your return rate. Twenty minutes spent separating them at the enquiry stage saves a container-load of argument later.
This guide is written for importers, wholesale buyers and retail range managers who are specifying screens for a market that is not the one they were made in. It covers standard heights, panel widths, the height-versus-stability problem, what tolerance actually means when you order custom, and a purchase order format that removes the ambiguity.
Four numbers hide inside every screen size
Before any conversation about standards, get the vocabulary straight. A folding screen has four measurable dimensions, and catalogues around the world pick a different one to headline.
1. Panel height (leaf height)
The height of one panel, measured on the frame, usually excluding feet. This is the number most factories quote, because it is the number that drives material cutting. If a listing says 180 cm with no other qualifier, this is almost certainly what it means.
2. Overall height (assembled height)
Panel height plus feet, glides or casters. Expect to add somewhere between 3 cm and 8 cm depending on the base design. This is the number your customer measures with a tape in the shop, and the number that decides whether the screen clears a doorway, a window sill or a low ceiling bulkhead. It is also the number that gets quoted back at you in a complaint, so it belongs on your specification even if your factory never uses it.
3. Coverage width (useful span)
How much wall the screen actually hides when it is standing. A folding screen does not stand flat. It stands in a zigzag, because that is the only way it stays up, and every degree of that zigzag steals span. The rule of thumb we work with across the woven and timber range:
Usable coverage ≈ panel count × panel width × 0.85
Four panels at 45 cm sounds like 180 cm of screen. Standing, it covers about 153 cm. Four at 50 cm covers about 170 cm. If the gap you are closing is really 180 cm, the first one leaves a 27 cm sliver of whatever you were trying to hide, and someone will notice it on day one.
4. Folded width (packed width)
The width of the screen when it is closed flat for storage or shipping. This equals roughly one panel width plus the stacked thickness of the frame members, so typically panel width plus 6 to 12 cm. This is the number that decides whether the screen fits in a customer’s car, in a stockroom rack, and in your own warehouse slotting plan.
There is also a fifth number that nobody puts on a specification sheet until it goes wrong: the depth of the zigzag footprint, which is roughly half a panel width. A 50 cm panel screen standing in a full zigzag needs about 25 cm of floor depth. In a tight restaurant aisle, that is the number that matters more than height.
Standard heights and where each one actually sells
Heights cluster, and the clusters are not accidental. They follow furniture ergonomics and freight economics at the same time.
| Overall height | In inches | What it does | Where it moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 cm | 59.1 in | Screens to hip height. Hides a desk, a bed base, a radiator. Does not hide a standing person. | Cafes, salons, market stalls, dorm rooms. Strong in price-led retail. |
| 170 cm | 66.9 in | Full privacy for a seated person. The European middle ground. | Home and office across the EU and UK. The default where ceiling heights run lower. |
| 180 cm | 70.9 in | Clears the head of most adults at close range. The global volume height. | North America, Australia, most of Europe. The safest first buy for a new range. |
| 200 cm and up | 78.7 in + | Full standing privacy. Reads as architecture rather than furniture. | Hotel lobbies, restaurants, open-plan offices, photo and event use. |
Two observations from shipping these for years. First, 180 cm is not a cultural preference, it is a freight and cutting preference. Timber and reed come in lengths that cut cleanly at 180 with low waste, and the carton stays under the length thresholds where carriers start charging differently. Move to 200 cm and both of those advantages weaken at once.
Second, 150 cm sells far better than most first-time buyers expect, because it solves a different problem. Nobody buys a 150 cm screen to hide a room. They buy it to hide a mess: a printer, a suitcase, an unmade sofa bed. If your range only has full-height screens, you are missing a cheaper, faster-turning segment.
If you are building a first range and can only carry two heights, take 180 cm as the volume item and 150 cm as the margin item. Add 200 cm only once you know you have customers who will pay for the extra material, because at 200 cm you are selling a heavier, bulkier product into the same shelf space.
Panel width: the number that quietly decides everything else
Panel width is under-specified in almost every enquiry we receive, and it is the variable with the widest downstream effect. It sets coverage, it sets the fold, it sets how much the screen wobbles, and it sets the carton.
| Panel width | In inches | Coverage at 4 panels | Character | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 cm | 15.7 in | 136 cm (53.5 in) | Narrow, dense fold, very stable, looks fine-grained | Small rooms, desk screens, decorative corners |
| 45 cm | 17.7 in | 153 cm (60.2 in) | The balanced default for 4-panel sets | Home and office, EU and UK ranges |
| 50 cm | 19.7 in | 170 cm (66.9 in) | Broader visual rhythm, fewer seam lines | North America, lobbies, restaurant zoning |
| 60 cm | 23.6 in | 204 cm (80.3 in) | Few panels, long runs, needs careful base design | Wide openings, event and studio use |
Wider panels are not automatically better. They reduce the number of hinge lines, which is good, but they also increase the lever arm on each hinge and the depth of each fold, which is not. A 60 cm panel in a lightweight woven build tends to bow over time unless the frame is upgraded, and the upgrade costs more than the material you saved by dropping a panel.
Our woven and reed screens run mostly at 45 cm and 50 cm, including the narrow 180 × 45 build at narrow bamboo folding screen 180×45, which is the format that fits European apartment widths best. Where a buyer needs height flexibility rather than width, the folding bamboo room divider in the 180 to 200 cm band covers both standard heights on one frame.
Taller is not simply taller: height drives stability
Every centimetre above the hips adds leverage at the top of the panel and raises the centre of gravity. A screen that is rock-solid at 150 cm can be genuinely unstable at 200 cm with the same foot design, and most buyers discover this when a customer walks past it with a tray.
| Overall height | Foot depth we specify | Base treatment | Notes from the floor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 cm | 28 to 30 cm | Flat glides | Stable on any level floor. Nothing further needed. |
| 170 cm | 32 to 35 cm | Flat glides or low feet | Still forgiving. Watch deep pile carpet. |
| 180 cm | 35 to 40 cm | Flat glides; consider wider outriggers | The height where floor condition starts to matter. |
| 200 cm and above | 45 cm or more | Weighted base, wall return, or braked casters | Treat as a fixed partition. Plan for tip-over resistance. |
Three practical rules follow from that table. Keep the panel count even where you can, because an even-count screen folds into a compact, symmetric stack with the feet spread at both ends. If you go tall and wide at the same time, spend the money on the base rather than on the face material, because the base is what stops the return. And if the screen will live anywhere children or hotel guests can reach it, ask for a tip-over test at the sample stage, not after the container ships. We covered the details of that in our guide to office room dividers, where anti-tip strategy is the whole specification.
For hotel and restaurant projects the same logic shows up as a compliance question. Flame-retardant finishes, wipeable faces and replaceable panels all have to be raised before sampling, because they change the material and therefore the size and weight of the finished panel. See room dividers for hotel projects and restaurant room dividers for how those requirements reshape the spec.
Custom sizes: what tolerance really means
The word custom is where most buyer-factory disagreements are born, because the buyer means exact and the factory means within tolerance. Hand-woven natural material is not sheet metal. It moves with humidity, it is cut and bound by hand, and it is assembled from a frame that has its own tolerances. Anyone promising you zero variation on a woven screen is either working in a climate-controlled factory or telling you what you want to hear.
| Dimension | Tolerance we work to | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Panel height | ±10 mm | Sets the assembled height. Two panels at opposite ends of tolerance read as a step. |
| Panel width | ±5 mm | Multiplies by panel count into coverage error. |
| Assembled overall height | ±15 mm | The number on the carton and the shelf label. |
| Folded thickness | ±10 mm | Decides carton count and warehouse slot width. |
| Gap between panels | 8 mm or less | Light leak. Above this, the screen stops screening. |
| Squareness (diagonal over 1 m) | 5 mm or less | A panel out of square will not fold flat and will not stand straight. |
Write those tolerances into the purchase order and the argument disappears. Leave them out and both sides will honestly believe they were right. Also decide what happens to units outside tolerance: we rework or replace them, but that only helps if the order said so.
Two further points on custom work. Non-standard heights usually mean new cutting setups and sometimes new frame jigs, which is why sampling exists. And a custom size almost always needs a custom carton, which is a cost line buyers forget until the freight quote arrives.
How size turns into landed cost
Freight on screens is a volume game. Screens ship flat-folded and light, so carriers price them on volume rather than weight, and volume scales with height × panel width × panel count. That product is the most useful number on your costing sheet.
| Specification | Volume index | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 150 cm × 40 cm × 3 panels | 0.59 | Cheapest to move, smallest shelf slot |
| 150 cm × 45 cm × 4 panels | 0.88 | Good ratio of coverage to freight |
| 170 cm × 45 cm × 4 panels | 1.00 | Baseline for comparison |
| 180 cm × 45 cm × 4 panels | 1.06 | Six percent more volume for ten centimetres more height |
| 180 cm × 50 cm × 4 panels | 1.18 | Eighteen percent more volume, eleven percent more coverage |
| 180 cm × 50 cm × 6 panels | 1.76 | Where freight starts to bite |
| 200 cm × 50 cm × 6 panels | 1.96 | Roughly double the baseline for a very different product |
Read that table as ratios, not as a freight quote, because rates move and routes differ. The point is the shape of the curve: height is cheap, width is moderate, panel count is expensive. Going from 170 cm to 180 cm costs you six percent on volume. Going from four panels to six costs you seventy-six percent. If you need more coverage, widen the panels before you add panels.
The mirror image of this is warehouse and shelf economics. A 150 cm screen with three panels fits a standard retail shelf and a standard stockroom rack. A 200 cm six-panel screen needs its own planogram and its own pick face. That cost is real, and it is usually larger than the difference in unit price.
How to write sizes into a purchase order
One block, four lines, both units. This is the format we ask buyers to use, and it removes almost every dispute:
- Configuration: 4 panels, folding, double-action hinges, even count
- Panel size: 180 cm H × 45 cm W (70.9 in × 17.7 in), tolerance ±10 mm height, ±5 mm width
- Assembled: overall height 186 cm ±15 mm including 60 mm feet; coverage 153 cm ±2 cm standing zigzag
- Folded: 51 cm W × 186 cm H × 12 cm D; carton to suit, maximum 2 units per carton
Three habits make that block work. Always state cm and inches, because your customer reads one and your factory builds the other. Always state whether the height includes feet, because that single word is the source of most complaints. And always state coverage as a separate line, because it is the number the buyer actually had in mind when they said 180.
Then add the non-size lines that size depends on: material, finish, foot type, hinge type, and whether casters are required. A screen on braked casters is 6 to 8 cm taller and behaves completely differently under load than the same screen on glides. The 4 panel folding bamboo room divider with casters is the clearest example of how a base change rewrites the whole spec.
Which sizes we keep on the floor
Across the range, the sizes that reorder most often are 180 cm height at 45 cm or 50 cm panel width, in three, four and six panel configurations. The three-panel format is the entry point for smaller rooms and for buyers testing the category, and you can see the size options on the folding bamboo room divider in three panel sizes. At the other end of the scale, wide-span projects usually go to an eight-panel build such as the cedar 8 panel folding room divider, where the panel count does the work that height cannot.
Timber builds behave slightly differently from woven ones. A solid wood panel holds its size better across seasons and carries more weight, which is why tall arches such as the walnut arch folding screen can be built taller without the base upgrade a woven panel would need. Woven and reed panels are lighter and cheaper to ship, and they give you the texture that sells in home decor. The folding bamboo room divider on a pine frame sits in the middle of that trade-off.
The full range, with the size options on each listing, is at room dividers and screens. If you want the commercial side of the same decision, including how panel counts map to coverage and freight, start with our room divider supplier guide and the piece on four panel screens.
What we can actually do at the factory
We have run our own factory since 2014, with 4,000 m² of workshop floor. Screens are made on the same lines as the rest of the woven range, which is why custom sizes are a normal request rather than a special one.
- Minimum order: 50 pieces per style
- Sampling: one week
- Bulk production: 30 to 45 days
- Custom sizes: panel height, panel width, panel count and foot type can all be specified
- Documentation: We arrange inspection and laboratory testing to whatever standard each buyer requires.
One honest caveat on custom heights. Above roughly 200 cm, the cost curve bends, because you are now paying for a heavier frame, a larger carton and a base that has been engineered rather than chosen. That is often still the right call for hotel and restaurant work, and almost never the right call for price-led retail. Decide which business you are supplying before you ask us to quote both.
Ten lines for your next RFQ
Send this and you will get a usable quote back on the first pass:
- Panel count and whether it must be even
- Panel height and panel width, in cm, with tolerance
- Overall assembled height, stating whether feet are included
- Required standing coverage, in cm
- Material: bamboo, willow, water hyacinth, seagrass, or solid wood
- Base: glides, fixed feet, or braked casters
- Hinge type and finish
- Flame-retardant or wipeable finish required, yes or no
- Quantity per size, and whether sizes can be mixed to reach 50 pieces per style
- Target delivery date and port
That is the whole job. Sizes are not glamorous, and nobody in this trade gets excited about a tolerance table. But the buyer who specifies four numbers instead of one gets a container that matches the planogram, a warehouse that can slot it, and customers who do not come back with a tape measure. That is worth twenty minutes.
If you have a gap to close and a height in mind, send the four numbers and we will tell you what we can build, what it will cost to ship, and where it will wobble.
Related guides
Three guides go deeper on the numbers here. shoji screens explain why a lattice panel sags differently from a solid one at the same width, hand-woven willow screens show how a woven face changes the tolerance you can hold, and solid wood room dividers explain why a hardwood frame holds the tightest tolerance of the three. All of it matters more than the nominal height when a screen has to fit an opening that is already built.