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Lamp Shade Safety

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MickG
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Lamp Shade Safety

Post by MickG »

Hi all

This might be a bit of a niche question, but hopefully one of you lovely people will be able to help.

My partner is starting a furniture resoration and craft business, and one of her ideas is to sell pained lamp shades.... sounds odd, but they do look fabulous!

The intention is to take an exisiting lamp shade, paint the outer face with water based paints, then sell them on.

From my limited understanding, lamp shades have to be tested to BS 60598 and pass a hot wire test for fire safety. She would be starting with shades that have already been tested, so would adding a water based paint to the outer side of shade impact on its fire resistance significantly? If so, would it be suitable to make them for use with low engery & LED bulbs only??
Obviously, we dont want to be supplying something which could catch fire with its intended use!!

Thanks in advacne for any help and assistance.
Mick
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Re: Lamp Shade Safety

Post by Waterbaby »

Bump ./thumbsup..

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Messy
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Re: Lamp Shade Safety

Post by Messy »

Blimey MickG, that is one of the toughest questions I have heard on here for a while! (mainly as I haven't got a clue)

I am pretty sure you would not be able to sell the items as BS compliant when the surface has been coated.

My only advice to you is to contact the water based paint suppliers or manufacturers . They will hold material safety sheets and other data and would be in the best place to advise you in relation to the hazards that may be created

My understanding is that its the 'carrier material' that is either water or solvent based. The carrier will evaporate through the drying process and MAY leave combustible products in the finished paint. I must stress this is a potential based on person experience of a paint spraying area I did a RA on and relieved to find it was water based products being used, only to find that some of them still posed a risk - albeit lower than a solvent based paint

I would be as detailed as possible about the use and method of application, including the lamp shade material when you write for advice

Well done for being so civic minded and please, if you do carry out this further beseech, do come back on here with any replies you get so we can all learn
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Re: Lamp Shade Safety

Post by bernicarey »

Hi MickG
I'm with Messy on this and I'll go so far as to say that if you are intending to 'buy-in' items of any sort that are compliant with any standard for flammability, then any reputable manufacturer will have a complete meltdown to learn that you intend to coat their product with a substance, because that would invalidate the certification that have been through, whether it be BS, CE or whatever.

Messy is right about the 'water based' paints etc too. After the water has evaporated you could be left with a flammable solid.

Last year I picked up a Painting & Decorating Company who had done COSHH assessments on the products they were using and had verbatim copied everything from the MSDS. This included some very extensive Fire Precautions regarding their wall emulsion.
The MSDS contained Fire safety aspects because it has to include the possibility of a warehouse full of the product catching fire and what would happen once the water had boiled off from the paint. There was no fire hazard relevant to the guy painting the walls!

If I were you, I would find some decorated shades produced by/for a major retailer and see what labelling they have. It might give you a direction to go in working out if you can do it too.

Be wary of taking advice and guidance from the many 'Craft' website (or youtube) you''ll find online. Many will be USA based and the safety info either inappropriate or non existent.
They'll happily tell you that fabric, wallpaper etc are all appropriate coverings for that old lampshade you need to brighten up!
www.belvoirsafety.co.uk

Tomorrow - your reward for being safe today...

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Re: Lamp Shade Safety

Post by Mrs P »

Hi Mick,

You need to submit one of the completed shades to a lab and have it tested to be sure. You cannot second guess the continued safety of a product once you have made material changes to it.

Cheers

Mrs P
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