We all know that smoke and carbon detectors are a critical element of a safe home, but how many of us know some of the most important guidelines around them? Here are our top 8 smoke/carbon detector facts and tips that we’d like to ensure you know and implement in your home:
- At least one smoke/carbon detector should be on each floor of your home.
- Every bedroom in your home should have its own detector.
- Current building code states that there must be a smoke detector within 15 feet of each bedroom (this is in addition to the one inside the bedroom itself).
- At least one detector per floor should be hard-wired into your electrical. Why? The primary reason is so that each of your detectors can “talk to each other” through the wiring, allowing one smoke/carbon alarm to set all of the others off at the same time. This ensures that everyone in the home is notified at the same time if there is a fire/carbon emergency; this seemingly short window can provide a big safety net.
- Test smoke alarms on a monthly to ensure proper functioning.
- Immediately install new batteries in all alarms when the low-battery warning appears, and/or on a yearly basis (Tip: add this once a year home-maintenance to your calendar to ensure you remember).
- Clean detectors regularly of dust to ensure proper functioning.
- Replace your detectors every 10 years to ensure optimum performance.
If you need additional detectors installed in your home to bring it up to code or would like help moving current ones – give us a call. Your safety is our top priority.
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