Does the varnish or finish on a piece of furniture count towards its reaction-to-fire class?

In short. The note applies only to non-combustible materials and leaves construction products out: on a steel frame or a stone top a thin coat of paint does not move the class, on wood it does, because combustible wood is part of the material that was tested. Fire-retardant varnish, for its part, is a route the rules open for wooden wall linings, not for furniture. A manufacturer therefore has one useful move: settle the finishing cycle before the test.

The 0.6 mm note: what it actually says

The list of materials and test methods is annex A.2.1 to the decree of 26 June 1984, replaced by article 7 of the decree of 14 October 2022. At the foot there is a note, worth reading in full rather than from memory: «in the case of non-combustible materials, excluding construction products, surface finish layers composed of varnishes and/or paints no more than 0.6 mm thick are considered irrelevant».

Three conditions, all necessary: the material underneath non-combustible, not a construction product, the finish no more than six tenths of a millimetre. If one fails, the note does not apply and the finish goes back to being part of what is tested.

The way the note is usually quoted, the first condition drops out, and it is the most important. The same decree, at article 2, assigns materials to classes 0 to 5 as their participation in combustion increases, and states that «those of class 0 are non-combustible». In substance the note says that a class 0 material does not lose that status because of a thin coat of paint. It says nothing about materials that burn.

Why the note does not apply to wood

Wood is combustible, and the consequence is immediate: the finish is not a film that can be discounted, it is part of the material. The definition makes this clear before any test, calling material, at article 2, «the component (or the components variously combined) which may participate in combustion depending on its own chemical nature and on the actual conditions of installation for use». Components variously combined, so the assembly and not the bare panel; depending on chemical nature, and a finishing cycle is chemistry added to the surface that catches fire first.

The practical result is that the class belongs to the piece with that cycle, not to the wood. A different primer or a different number of coats is a variation of the tested material, and the decree is severe: at article 9 a homologation «lapses automatically if the material undergoes any modification whatsoever», and a certification issued under article 10 lapses in the same way with respect to the certified prototype. How to read a document and what makes it lapse is in the dedicated guide; a document describing an end use other than the one supplied is in the guide on a certificate issued for a different end use.

Fire-retardant varnish: what it is for, and on what

Here the confusion is about destination, not thickness: the rules do open a route through varnish, but they open it for linings, not for furniture.

The hotel rule of 9 April 1994, at point 6.2, names it in its final paragraph: «The installation of wooden linings is permitted, suitably treated with coating products homologated in reaction-to-fire class 1, in accordance with the terms and indications contained in the ministerial decree of 6 March 1992». Wooden linings: panelling, wall boarding, matchboard. Not chairs, not wardrobes, not tables.

The Fire Prevention Code puts it in the same place. In the table of material groups for covering and completion, replaced by article 12 of the decree of 14 October 2022, a note states that where linings are «treated with fire-retardant coating products homologated under M.D. 6/3/1992, the latter must be suitable for the intended use» and carry a classification set by group: class 1 for GM1 and GM2, class 2 for GM3. Here too the subject is linings, which is to say construction products: exactly the category the 0.6 mm note excludes. The boundary between the two worlds is the subject of the guide on Euroclass and Italian class.

So «we will coat them with a fire-retardant product and we are covered», said of a batch of chairs, answers with the rule for another object. And suitability for the intended use is a written condition: a product homologated for panelling is not automatically suitable on furniture.

On upholstery the question does not even arise

On a sofa the matter closes earlier. Annex A.2.1 assigns upholstered furniture and mattresses the UNI 9175 method, and that test is run on the assembly: frame, filling and covering together. There is no finish layer to discount, because there is no already-classified material underneath to apply the note to: a treatment added to the leather is part of the assembly tested. When Class 1 IM is required in a hotel is explained in the dedicated guide.

The specimen, when the piece is not flat

There is a second sentence in the same note, which never circulates and concerns anyone making shaped pieces: «in the case of material whose dimensions and/or shape do not permit the taking of the specimens required by the individual methods, these shall be obtained from flat sheets of equivalent nature and of appropriate dimensions, or by other criteria» set by the Centre for Studies and Experiments.

Translated into the workshop: a curved headboard or a shaped counter is not cut into specimens; flat sheets «of equivalent nature» are prepared instead, with the same substrate and the same finishing cycle. Which is why the cycle has to be frozen first: the test sheet has to be a photograph of what leaves the spray booth. When certificates do not arrive, or describe something else, the remaining routes are in the guide on furniture without fire certificates.

What to ask, in practice

• On the document: which substrate and which finishing cycle the test was run on, not only the class that came out;
• On the match: the cycle on the document and the cycle on the order must be the same. A different colour within the same cycle is a different matter from a different cycle;
• Of whoever proposes fire-retardant varnish: for which end use it is homologated, and whether that end use is yours;
• In the specification: the finishing cycle belongs beside the item, because a variation decided after the test restarts it. How to write an enforceable line is in the specification guide, and the documents that should arrive with the pieces are in the documents guide.

How we work

Brianform was founded in 1982 in Brianza and is a brand of Sibilia S.r.l., with its premises and showroom in Cantù: sofas, armchairs, tables and bespoke furniture for hotels and residences, working wood, marble, iron and upholstery in house. Having the joinery and the spray shop in the same factory is for exactly this: the finishing cycle does not arrive from outside once the test is done, it is decided together with the drawing, while it can still be decided. On a hotel project the most valuable thing is time: products that comply, are certified and arrive on schedule mean a fast opening, and a hotel that opens sooner starts earning sooner. The moment all of this is verified, piece by piece, is the mock-up room.

The models are in the collections; the Contract page explains how we follow projects. It starts from contact.

Frequently asked questions

Does a coat of varnish on a piece of furniture change its reaction-to-fire class?

It depends on the material underneath. On a non-combustible material that is not a construction product, a layer up to 0.6 mm is considered irrelevant. On a combustible material, wood included, the finish is part of what was tested and the class refers to the piece with that cycle.

Can I bring a piece of furniture up to class 1 by coating it with a fire-retardant product?

That is not the route the rules provide for furniture. The 1994 decree names homologated coating products for wooden linings, and the Code names them for linings: in both cases these are construction products. For a piece of furniture the class comes from classifying the finished piece.

Does changing only the colour of the finish invalidate the document?

Colour and pattern are not the object of the classification; the finishing cycle is. The question to ask is whether the new colour belongs to the same tested cycle, with the same primer and the same coats, or whether it is a different cycle.

How is a curved or shaped piece tested?

With specimens obtained from flat sheets of equivalent nature, as the note to annex A.2.1 provides where shape and dimensions do not permit the taking of specimens. «Equivalent nature» includes the finishing cycle.

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The regulatory texts cited on this page were read at source: Italian Ministerial Decree of 26 June 1984, articles 2 and 9, with annex A.2.1 and its closing note as replaced by article 7 of the Ministerial Decree of 14 October 2022 (Official Gazette, 26 October 2022, no. 251); article 10 of the same decree as replaced by article 5 of the Ministerial Decree of 14 October 2022; article 12 of the Ministerial Decree of 14 October 2022, which replaces the tables in section S.1 of the Ministerial Decree of 3 August 2015; Ministerial Decree of 9 April 1994, point 6.2; standard UNI 9175. The Ministerial Decree of 6 March 1992 is cited as the two texts above cite it, and was not read in the original: the test method it establishes is therefore not reported here. Quotations from Italian texts are our translations. The choice of applicable rule and the reaction-to-fire requirements of any individual project remain the responsibility of the fire-safety design and of the appointed professional.