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Fire & Water - Cleanup & Restoration

How Many Fire Detectors Do You Need?

8/25/2022 (Permalink)

When it comes to smoke alarms, many homeowners do not realize that most homes require more than just a couple of alarms in order to properly give a warning in an emergency scenario. Here are a few things to keep in mind when figuring out how many smoke alarms your home will need.

The safest smoke alarms are ones that are hardwired and interconnected. This means that when one alarm goes off, they all go off. This is important because you may not hear an alarm go off in a different area of your house if you are too far away or behind closed doors. If your home has interconnected smoke alarms, you can still add battery-powered stand-alone alarms as well for additional safety.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, your home should have at least one smoke alarm on every level of the home including the basement. Additionally, there should be one in every bedroom and outside of every sleeping area. For example, a two-story home, with two bedrooms and a basement should have a minimum of five smoke alarms. One on each floor, and one in each bedroom. Another thing to consider is their placement, for example, if your smoke alarm is in your kitchen, you should place it at least ten feet from the cooking appliances like the stove and oven to help mitigate false alarms. You can also use a photoelectric type of alarm in your kitchen to further mitigate the chance of false alarms.

Smoke alarms don’t prevent fires, but they are the first line of defense for your family in an emergency. Properly functioning fire alarms are a crucial part of your home safety. You should check them once a month to ensure proper function and replace the batteries twice a year, usually, people use switching the clocks for daylight savings time as a reminder of when to change the batteries. Additionally, smoke alarms should be replaced every ten years.

While we hope you won’t ever have to call us, if you should find yourself in need of a professional fire restoration company SERVPRO of Richmond and SERVPRO of Henrico is here to help. With over 35 years of experience in the restoration industry, our teams are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to help make your fire loss “Like it never even happened.”

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