security
Mains wired smoke and heat alarms
Three interlinked mains alarms fitted costs £300 to £600. In Scotland this is not a recommendation: since 1 February 2022 every home, owned or rented, has needed interlinked alarms, and Scotland is alone in the UK in placing that duty on owner occupiers as well as landlords.
What this covers
What it costs. Three interlinked mains alarms fitted is £300 to £600, and a radio interlinked sealed battery set of the same size £180 to £400. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- Interlinked mains alarms on a dedicated circuit
- Heat alarms in kitchens and smoke alarms on escape routes
- Radio interlinked alarms where cabling is not practical
- Carbon monoxide detection alongside the alarm system
- Certifying the system and handing over the test routine
What is involved
The Scottish standard is precise enough to check a house against in a minute. One smoke alarm in the room most used in the daytime, usually the living room. One smoke alarm in every circulation space on every storey, which means halls and landings. One heat alarm in the kitchen. All of them ceiling mounted and all of them interlinked, so one sounding sets off the rest. A carbon monoxide detector is required wherever there is a carbon fuelled appliance, a boiler, a fire or a flue, and that one does not have to be interlinked.
Interlinking is the part that matters and the part most often missing. A standalone alarm in a kitchen wakes nobody upstairs, which is precisely the scenario the standard exists for. Hard wired alarms interlink over a third core in the cable. Sealed battery alarms with a ten year cell interlink by radio, which is what makes retrofit possible in a house where lifting the landing floor is not, and both satisfy the Scottish requirement.
England and Wales are a patchwork by comparison. New build and material alteration work falls under building regulations and gets mains alarms as a matter of course. Rented property has its own duties, tightened for social housing. Owner occupiers in an unaltered house have no equivalent obligation, which does not make the kitchen heat alarm a worse idea, only an optional one. A heat alarm rather than a smoke alarm in a kitchen is the detail worth carrying across regardless: smoke alarms near cookers get taken down.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask whether the alarms are hard wired and interlinked over a cable, or sealed ten year cells interlinked by radio, and price both. Ask how many alarms the quote covers and where each one goes, then count the circulation spaces yourself. Ask whether a carbon monoxide detector is included if there is a boiler or a fire.
Common questions
What exactly does Scotland require?
A smoke alarm in the most used living room, a smoke alarm in every circulation space on each storey, and a heat alarm in the kitchen, all ceiling mounted and all interlinked. Plus carbon monoxide detection where there is a carbon fuelled appliance.
Do sealed battery alarms count?
Yes, provided they are the long life sealed type and they interlink, which the radio linked ranges do. That route avoids cabling and is what makes an older house straightforward.