Smoke detectors are essential for any fire safety plan at home since they create a loud and consistent beep when smoke reaches their sensors. The placement of fire detectors in your home is critical. Use these tips to determine where to install smoke detectors in your home.
A Smart Strategy for Where to Install Smoke Detectors
When you decide where to install smoke detectors at home, keep in mind that smoke naturally rises. Fires are more common in some areas of the home and smoke cannot easily enter through a closed door. By keeping these points in mind, you’ll be able to best choose where to install smoke detectors in your home.
1. A Minimum of One Detector Per Floor
Your smoke detectors should alert you to a possible house fire as soon as they detect smoke. You don’t want a fire on one floor to go undetected for several long minutes because a detector is not located on each floor. While there are more specific tips about the placement of smoke detectors on each floor, remember that you need a minimum of one detector per floor.
2. In or Near Bedrooms
A considerable amount of time in your bedroom is spent sleeping or watching TV, so you might not be alert to the sounds and smells of a fire starting. If you keep the bedroom door closed, this could block smoke. These factors make it more difficult to notice a fire outside of the bedroom.
Because of this, smoke detectors should be placed just outside of bedroom doors. When deciding where to install smoke detectors, consider installing one inside each bedroom, too. Since some fires also start inside the bedroom, this added precaution will better protect your loved ones in the event of a fire.
3. Near Kitchens and Laundry Rooms
Fires are more likely to break out in the kitchen and laundry room than other areas of the home. For example, it’s common for fires to break out from cooking or dryer lint igniting. Placing a smoke detector in these rooms is a good idea, but placing a detector too close to cooking appliances can result in annoying false alarms. A smoke detector should be installed 10 feet away from the stove and oven.
4. Elevated Placement
Because smoke naturally rises, the ideal placement of smoke detectors is on ceilings when possible. Otherwise, high placement on walls is a good alternative. Air propelled from the HVAC vents on the ceiling can prevent smoke from being detected. Place smoke detectors at least a few feet away from air vents.
As you use these guidelines to install smoke detectors in your home, keep in mind that carbon monoxide detectors are equally important. Because carbon monoxide is clear, odorless, and deadly, a functional carbon monoxide detector is your only warning that this deadly gas is in your home.
Hub City Home Inspections provides home safety audits and other inspection services to South Mississippi. Contact us to request an appointment.