Smoke & CO Detector Installation near you

Health Canada recommends a smoke alarm in each bedroom, in the hallway outside the bedrooms and on each level of the home, including the basement, and names the hallway outside sleeping areas as the most important place for a CO alarm. The Quebec government adds spots near the stairs, and for CO alarms, near the door to an attached garage and in the room above it.

By law, every home in Ontario must have a working smoke alarm on every storey and outside all sleeping areas, and the homeowner is responsible for installing and maintaining them. The Fire Code also requires CO alarms in homes with a fuel-burning appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage: adjacent to each sleeping area and, since January 1, 2026, on every storey, including storeys without sleeping areas. Failing to meet the smoke alarm requirements can bring a ticket or a fine.

In Quebec, smoke alarm rules for houses come largely from municipalities, and the Quebec government asks residents to check theirs. In Montreal, the fire safety by-law (RCG 12-003) requires owners to provide and install smoke alarms: at least one per floor, including the basement, plus one in each bedroom and between the bedrooms and the rest of the floor in buildings built after June 2015. Buildings from before 1985 without electric alarms need models with a non-removable 10-year lithium battery.

For residential buildings covered by Quebec's Safety Code, such as multi-unit and co-owned buildings, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec says a CO alarm is required when a unit has a combustion appliance, such as a gas range or a fireplace, or direct access to an indoor parking garage.

Smoke alarms don't last forever. Health Canada says to replace any smoke alarm more than ten years old, Ontario says to replace them every 10 years according to the manufacturer's instructions, and in Quebec the RBQ and the Quebec government count the 10 years from the manufacturing date on the casing.

CO alarms expire too. Health Canada advises checking the expiry date and replacing the alarm as the manufacturer recommends; many units announce the end of their life with a distinct signal described in the manual. When hardwired alarms reach the end of their life, replacing them together keeps an interconnected system matched.

New homes are built to the building code in force and are typically fitted with smoke alarms wired to the electrical system and linked so they sound together. Ontario's guidance on Building Code requirements for tiny homes, for example, says smoke alarms must meet the CAN/ULC-S531 standard, flash a light when activated and be connected to an electrical circuit. When a hardwired alarm wears out, replace it with a hardwired model rather than a battery-only unit, so the home keeps its wiring and interconnection.

Connectors and mounting plates vary between models, so a replacement may need a new wiring connector, and older systems sometimes need new cable to link additional alarms. Adding hardwired alarms, linking them or putting them on a circuit is electrical work: in Ontario, a Licensed Electrical Contractor notifies ESA; in Quebec, a contractor licensed through the CMEQ does it. The Quebec government likewise notes that permanently installed electric CO alarms are installed by an electrician.