Fire & Smoke Alarms
Mains-wired smoke and heat alarms, interlinked and tested, positioned to give you warning where you actually need it.
What an alarm installation actually involves
A mains-wired system means alarms on a permanent supply with battery backup, interlinked so that one detecting smoke sounds every unit in the house. That interlink is the whole point: a battery alarm going off in the kitchen at 3am is no use to someone asleep upstairs with the door shut.
Placement matters more than the number of units. Optical smoke alarms go on escape routes — hallways and landings — because they respond well to smouldering fires and cope better with the small amounts of steam and cooking haze that make people rip units off ceilings. Heat alarms go in kitchens where a smoke unit would nuisance-trip constantly. Where there's an integral garage, a boiler room or a solid-fuel stove we'll talk through heat and carbon monoxide detection too.
We install radio-interlinked units where lifting finished floors to run interlink cable isn't sensible, and hard-wired where the fabric allows it. On completion every unit is tested, the interlink is proved by triggering one and confirming they all sound, and we show you how to test and what the different beeps mean — most call-outs about chirping alarms are an end-of-life unit, not a fault.
- Mains-wired alarms with battery backup
- Full interlink so one alarm sounds them all
- Optical, heat and CO detection placed by room type
- Radio interlink where cabling finished ceilings isn't practical
- Interlink proven on test and handover explained
Common questions
- How many alarms does a house need?
- As a minimum, one on every storey on the escape route — hallway and landing — with a heat alarm in the kitchen. Bigger or split-level houses and rentals usually need more; we'll walk the house and set out where each unit should go and why.
- Are battery alarms good enough?
- For a rental or a family home, no. Mains-wired units with battery backup can't be left with a dead battery, and interlinking is what actually gets people out of a house that's sleeping upstairs.
- Why does my alarm chirp when nothing's burning?
- Usually end of life — sensors are typically good for about ten years — or dust and insects in the chamber. Check the date on the unit; if it's a decade old, replace rather than clean.
- Can you install without wrecking the ceilings?
- In most cases yes. We use existing lighting circuits and attic access where we can, and radio-interlinked mains units where running cable between floors would mean lifting finished floors.
Need someone today?
Describe the symptom rather than the solution and we'll tell you honestly whether it needs an emergency visit or a booked appointment. Emergency call-outs are prioritised.