h:panelGrid inconsistent allocation of cells - jsf

Question

My page: ---
Something is causing panelGrid to create an empty cell in several rows.
I'd like to have a visible two column table, first column a label, second column an inputText element or a selectMenu with a tooltip.
My workaround was this, create a 3 column table, and when panelGrid decides not to create an empty cell, add a <br></br> to prompt it to do so.
<h:panelGrid columns="3" style="text-align:left">
<p:remoteCommand name="startJobActivate" actionListener="#{provisioningBean.startJobActivate}" />
<h:outputLabel for="longitudeIdAct" value="Longitude: " />
<p:inputText id="longitudeIdAct" value="#{provisioningBean.longitude}" title="Longitude" />
<p:watermark for="longitudeIdAct" value="Longitude" />
<h:outputLabel id="equipmentDropMenuActLabel" for="equipmentDropMenuAct" value="#{provisioningBean.accessDeviceLabel}" />
<p:selectOneMenu id="equipmentDropMenuAct" value="#{provisioningBean.equipment}" title="Not needed for CSI or SIP"
disabled="#{provisioningBean.equipDisabled}" style="width: 100% !important">
<f:selectItem itemLabel=" Equipment" itemValue="" noSelectionOption="true" />
<f:selectItems value="#{provisioningBean.equipments}" />
</p:selectOneMenu>
<p:tooltip for="equipmentDropMenuAct" />
<h:outputLabel for="rangeActId" value="Range: " />
<p:spinner id="rangeActId" value="#{provisioningBean.rangeAct}" min="1" title="Amount of telephone numbers to provide" size="3"
disabled="#{provisioningBean.rangeDisabled}" />
<br></br>
</h:panelGrid>
Is this a bug?
What am I missing here?
EDIT:
Oh neat! I managed to create a minimal example and it still has the same issue :D https://gist.github.com/WurmD/f3cb45669e6871acc77462f34891862f
screenshot - you need 10 rep to post images
So this is a 3 column h:panelGrid, but the third cell is being taken up by something
EDIT2: Same behavior with p:panelGrid

Answer 1

Thank you Kukeltje for this answer:
h:panelGrid columns="3" signify "start new row after each third element"
Thus, either put the watermarks (and other invisible elements) outside h:panelGrid, or use h:panelGroup to groups things that should only occupy one cell in the table:
<p:remoteCommand name="startJobActivate" actionListener="#{provisioningBean.startJobActivate}" />
<p:panelGrid columns="2" style="text-align:left">
<h:outputLabel for="orderIdAct" value="Order Number: *" />
<p:inputText id="orderIdAct" value="#{provisioningBean.orderNumberAct}" label="orderId" title="Order Number" />
<h:outputLabel for="customerNameIdAct" value="Customer: *" />
<h:panelGroup>
<!-- h:panelGroup to group things that should only occupy 1 cell in the table -->
<p:inputText id="customerNameIdAct" value="#{provisioningBean.customerName}" title="Customer Name" />
<p:watermark for="customerNameIdAct" value="Customer Name" id="watermarkcustomerNameIdAct" />
</h:panelGroup>
</p:panelGrid>
<p:panel id="executePanelAct">
<p:commandButton value="Execute Activation" id="actvateButton" update=":form:growl" styleClass="executeButton" />
</p:panel>
<!-- Items that don't need to be in panelGrid -->
<p:watermark for="orderIdAct" value="Order Number" id="watermarkorderIdAct" />