Does reupholstery void the fire certificate?

In short. An armchair is not certified piece by piece: the approval covers one precise combination of padding, interliner and covering, and a change to any of the three makes it lapse. Here is what can be changed without losing Class 1 IM, what cannot, what applies in existing hotels, and what has to stay in the document file.

What is certified: the fabric, the padding, or the armchair?

The finished piece. The distinction looks formal and in fact settles almost every argument. The Italian decree of 26 June 1984 certifies a prototype: a sample piece is tested in a laboratory to UNI 9175, and the approval covers pieces conforming to that prototype, not the materials taken one by one.

Which answers a question that comes up constantly on technical forums. A maker hands over the test report for the leather and the one for the foam and says that is enough: those are two materials, not a sofa. The client should receive the approval of the upholstered piece and the declaration of conformity to that prototype.

So what counts in the test? Three things only, and a Ministry of the Interior circular of 21 September 1985 lists them: the padding material, the interliner where there is one, and the covering. Everything else is declared immaterial, in the circular's own words: the colour and pattern of the covering fabric are not determining, nor are the dimensions and shape of the chair, and the materials of the frame or the base have no bearing on the classification. The same logic underpins our guide on when Class 1 IM is required in hotels.

If I recover it in a different fabric, does the approval still hold?

No. Article 9.2 of the 1984 decree is one line long: approval lapses automatically if the material undergoes any modification whatsoever. The covering is one of the three elements the test is run on; replacing it with a different fabric produces a different piece, and the original certificate no longer covers it.

This is not a technicality. A well-executed reupholstery, in a fabric finer than the original, can still leave a chair with no valid paperwork: the new fabric will have its own test report, but the combination has never been tested. The test is run on the assembly because how an upholstered piece behaves in a fire depends on how the materials react together, not on each alone. On what changes from one covering to another, there is a guide of its own.

And if I only change the colour?

Here the answer is the opposite, and it is set out in the same 1985 circular: the colour and the pattern of the covering fabric are not determining. The same fabric in a different shade, or with a different pattern, stays inside the existing approval.

The practical distinction: the same fabric means the same composition, construction and weight — not the same commercial range. Two references from one sample book can be two different fabrics, so compare the two technical data sheets rather than the two names.

Can I replace worn padding?

Yes, on one condition, and that is written down too. The 1985 circular allows the padding materials of existing armchairs to be replaced with materials identical to those used to produce the approved model, without repeating the tests, provided the change is declared. A Ministry note of 4 February 2000 confirmed that this procedure remains in force precisely for the replacement of deteriorated padding on approved armchairs already installed.

The word carrying the whole sentence is «identical»: a foam of the same density from another supplier is not. Which is why maintenance of a fleet of approved armchairs is planned with whoever made them, the only party who knows, and can declare, what went inside.

The same principle read backwards explains why a new model is sometimes certified in days and sometimes takes months: a 2004 circular allows an approval to be extended to a new model made with the same materials, and a 1993 one allows several models to be covered by the test of a single prototype. If the new piece sits inside a family of materials already tested, the document exists. If it falls outside, it has to be tested.

My hotel is an existing one. Do I have to replace the armchairs?

Probably not, and it is worth knowing before spending. The Italian technical rule for hotels, D.M. 9 April 1994, requires at point 6.2 that upholstered furniture and mattresses be Class 1 IM — but that point sits in the title covering newly built premises. For existing premises, point 19.2 states that point 6.2 applies «with the exclusion of letter e) as regards upholstered furniture». In plain terms: in existing premises mattresses remain Class 1 IM, upholstered furniture is outside the requirement.

Two cautions, because the line between «existing» and «new» is not drawn by the age of the building. Works can bring the premises under the rules for new construction, and a project set up under the 2015 fire prevention code follows its own schedule of materials, which does include upholstered furniture, cushions and bed linen. This page reports the rules and does not replace the fire safety professional who signs the application: it is there to help you ask them the right question.

Does the approval expire?

It does: five years, renewable on the producer's application. If nothing has changed and the producer attests to it, renewal does not require the tests to be repeated; if something has changed, it starts again from the test.

For a buyer the consequence is a thirty-second check: the approval references quoted in the declaration of conformity should be consistent with the date of supply. It is the check almost nobody makes, and the one that prevents discovering two years later a document that had already lapsed before delivery.

What must be on the piece and in the file

On the piece, a permanent marking: producer's name, year of production, reaction-to-fire class, approval references. That is the mark of conformity, and the decree describes it in those terms. Where marking is not possible, a certificate carrying the same data is accepted.

In the file, the declaration of conformity to the approved prototype, quoting the approval references. The decree adds a line worth knowing: the seller must declare, under their own civil and criminal liability, that the goods sold carry the declaration of conformity. It is not a courtesy document.

On a hotel project these two pieces of paper are not a formality: they are among the documents needed to open. The complete file is in the guide on Class 1 IM furniture, the moment to ask for them in the guide on lead times.

How we work

We design and manufacture in-house, and that changes the answer we can give on a piece already supplied: we know what is inside it, and we can say beforehand — not afterwards — whether a requested change stays within the approval or calls for a new one. On a hotel project the most valuable thing is time: compliant, certified furniture delivered on schedule means opening quickly, and a client who starts invoicing.

Frequently asked questions

The upholsterer has recovered my armchairs: can I keep the old certificate?

If the fabric is different, no: approval lapses with any modification, and the covering is one of the three elements the test is run on. If it is the same fabric in another colour or pattern, yes.

They gave me a certificate for the fabric and one for the padding. Is that enough?

No. Approval covers the upholstered piece, not the materials taken individually. What is needed is the approval of the model and the declaration of conformity to that prototype.

Can I renew the padding without losing the certificate?

Yes, if materials identical to those of the approved model are used and the replacement is declared. The procedure is expressly provided for approved armchairs already installed.

In my existing hotel, do the lobby armchairs have to be Class 1 IM?

For existing premises the technical rule excludes upholstered furniture from that requirement; mattresses remain. If works bring the premises under the rules for new construction, or the project follows the fire prevention code, the answer changes: check it with the professional signing the application.

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The standards, classes and decrees cited on this page are verified at source and remain general guidance: the requirement that applies is the one in the approved fire safety design, to be read together with whoever signed it.