Smoke & CO Alarms, Installed Right.

On January 1, 2026, Ontario’s Fire Code changed where carbon monoxide alarms are required. Before 2026, a CO alarm was only required beside the sleeping areas. Now, in homes with a fuel-burning appliance, a fireplace or an attached garage, a CO alarm is also required on every storey — including storeys with no bedrooms, like a basement with the furnace. The two requirements are separate: the alarm beside the bedrooms is still needed, and every other storey needs one of its own. On the bedroom floor, one alarm in the hallway outside the bedrooms covers that floor. A home that was compliant before 2026 may not be now. The smoke alarm rules did not change: smoke alarms are required on every storey and outside all sleeping areas.

Yes. The January 1, 2026 change was made to Ontario’s Fire Code, and the Fire Code is the set of rules for homes people already live in — it is not limited to new construction or renovations, which are covered separately by the Building Code. “Required” means the alarms are a legal requirement for your home: the local fire department enforces the Fire Code, its fire prevention officers can inspect a home and order the alarms installed, and leaving a home short is an offence under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, with fines of up to $50,000 on conviction for a first offence. A home that is not up to the Fire Code can also put an insurance claim at risk after a fire or CO incident. And in a semi or a rowhouse, your alarms protect more than your own family: fire and carbon monoxide do not stop at the wall between homes, so keeping your alarms current looks after the neighbours too.

Walk through it floor by floor. On the bedroom floor, one alarm in the hallway outside the bedrooms covers that floor — for smoke and for CO. Every other floor then needs an alarm of its own: the main floor, even though nobody sleeps there, and the basement, especially if the furnace or another fuel-burning appliance is down there. Those extra alarms on the floors without bedrooms are exactly what the 2026 rules added for CO, and smoke alarms follow the same every-floor pattern. Where one unit can do both jobs, a combination smoke & CO alarm covers the floor. The exact count depends on your layout, so we count them with you during the free estimate — and check the dates on your existing units at the same time.

Every 10 years, or by the replace-by date printed on the back of the unit. The sensors wear out even when the test button still makes a sound, so an alarm that beeps on test can still be past its working life. If there is no readable date on yours, it is time.

No. Toronto Fire requires like-for-like replacement: a hardwired alarm is replaced with a hardwired alarm, never downgraded to a battery-only unit. Staying hardwired also keeps your alarms interconnected, so when one sounds, they all sound. The hardwired units we install carry a 10-year sealed battery backup, so there is no battery to change.

For interconnection, yes. Alarms talk to each other within their own brand and system — hardwired units over the interconnect wire, wireless units by radio. Mixing brands on the same system means some alarms may not trigger the others. It is one reason a whole-home refresh with one matched set makes sense when several units are due.

Landlords are responsible for installing and maintaining the smoke and CO alarms in a rental home, and for testing them at least once a year and at every change of tenancy. Tenants must not disable an alarm, and should report any problem to the landlord. We can bring a rental home up to the current rules in one visit and test every unit while we are there.