Recalled sofa

IvanOpinion

You can get fire retardant sprays for fabrics and could treat it yourself. I have not tried them.

user1977

JetpackVelociraptor said:

I would be a bit concerned that in the event of a fire, and the sofa being a contributing factor to the fire spreading more quickly or further than it otherwise would, OP could find themself either not insured or being sued by someone else's insurance company.

No, they would still be insured, unless they had given a false answer to a question on the proposal form, or had breached a condition of the policy.

If you can find any insurer which either asks questions about flammability of furniture, or has relevant conditions in their policies, please let us know. But it's not something I've ever encountered, and it is of course commonplace for households to contain furniture which doesn't comply with current standards for new furniture.

le318

JetpackVelociraptor said:

I am somewhat paranoid about insurance, I'll admit it. I would be a bit concerned that in the event of a fire, and the sofa being a contributing factor to the fire spreading more quickly or further than it otherwise would, OP could find themself either not insured or being sued by someone else's insurance company. If it were me, I'd check out just how flammable it seems before deciding whether to keep it.

I personally suspect these sofas are more flammable than vintage furniture built prior to the fire regulations. We're not talking about someone's authentic 1960's G Plan chair here, we're talking about something built in China to the cheapest possible standards by companies that count every staple and millilitre of adhesive in order to cut costs down to an absolute bare minimum. And, bought at a time when the shipping costs from China to the UK had literally trebled, so costs had to be cut further from the manufacturing side of things. I would guess the majority of furniture built prior to 1988 that's still in use was quite well built, as it's still around! Also it would probably have been recovered by now unless it's upholstered in leather or wool, and probably made good use of natural materials. Leather is naturally fire resistant, as is wool (it chars rather than melting and burning). The things to be wary of are artificial materials that, without the fire retardant coatings, will melt and burn like a torch.

The question is whether OP just has a sofa that doesn't meet some basic red tape requirement, or whether OP has the upholstery equivalent of a pile of oily rags in their living room. Hopefully the latter!

I was going to test a small piece of fabric as you previously suggested but there isn't any on it. So I suspect your point about the manufacturing processes is correct 🙄

Thanks to all who have commented for your advice and insights. For my own peace of mind I'm going to get rid of it

sheramber

Who has gone into administration- Oak furniture store or the manufacturer of the sofa?

If it is the manufacturer would  you not have rights with the retailer  under the CRA ?

Alderbank

sheramber said:

Who has gone into administration- Oak furniture store or the manufacturer of the sofa?

born_again's link above says administrators appointed to Oak Furniture Store on 21 Feb 2023