How Many Smoke Detectors Do I Need?

Working smoke detectors should be located in each bedroom and outside the bedroom hallway. If your home is large, and has ‘wings’, there should be additional smoke detectors in each wing. There should be at least one smoke detector on each level and in any walkable basement area.

So if you have a three bedroom house, you need four smoke detectors.

If you have a three bedroom two story home, you need five detectors.

You need (at the minimum) one more detector than the number of bedrooms you have in your home, and add one more if you have a two story home.

Carbon monoxide detectors should be located on each floor of the home and in any sleeping room with a fixed gas appliance like a water heater, fireplace, or stove. CO detectors should be located central to all rooms on each level. Large homes over 3,500 sq ft need additional CO detectors for additional coverage. If your home has ‘wings’, you need a CO detector in each wing of the home. There should be one CO detector for every 1,500 sq ft of home.

Aso you don’t need a smoke detector in each room but you need to know which rooms you need them in. Do not put a smoke detector in the kitchen, as it will always go off when you cook.


Smoke alarms were present in three-quarters (74 percent) of recent reported home fires. Almost three out of five home fire deaths were caused by fires in properties with no smoke alarms (41 percent) or smoke alarms that failed to operate (16 percent). The death rate per 1,000 home structure fires is 55 percent lower in homes with working smoke alarms than in homes with no alarms or alarms that fail to operate.

In Southern California, approx. 40% of the smoke detectors we inspect do not work, or the batteries have been removed in 2023.

where to put smoke detectors in your home to save your life

Call us with any questions you may have about requirements for smoke detectors in your home 310-800-4418.

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