Are smoke and carbon monoxide alarms required in a BC home?

Question

Accepted Answer

Yes for smoke alarms in every home, old or new; the Building Code adds carbon monoxide alarms where a new or altered home has a fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage. Two codes set the rules. The BC Fire Code applies to every building, new or existing, and requires smoke alarms in each home. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. Every home: the Fire Code: The BC Fire Code applies to all new and existing buildings (Division A 1.1.1.1 as the Province amends it). It requires smoke alarms in each dwelling unit, between the sleeping areas and the rest of the home, in the hallway where one serves the bedrooms; they may be battery-operated (Division B 2.1.3.3). Equipment put in under an earlier edition of the code may stay as installed (Division A 1.1.1.1 (2)). Keeping them working: Smoke alarms are to be inspected, tested and maintained to CAN/ULC-S552, and carbon monoxide alarms to their maker's instructions (Fire Code Division B 6.7.1.1). The Fire Code we read sets no rule putting a CO alarm into an existing home that has none; it covers the ones installed (our reading). New homes and work under a permit: smoke alarms: The BC Building Code applies to a new building, an alteration, an addition and work done to correct an unsafe condition (Division A 1.1.1.1). It requires a smoke alarm on every storey, basements included, in each bedroom, and between the bedrooms and the rest of the storey, on or near the ceiling (Division B 9.10.19.1, 9.10.19.3). They are wired to a circuit with no switch between them and the breaker, with a battery that runs them for at least 7 days if the power fails (9.10.19.4 (1)), interconnected so one sets off all the others in the home (9.10.19.5), and carry a button that silences them for no more than 10 minutes (9.10.19.6). A cabin with no power: Where the building has no electrical power, the Building Code permits battery-operated smoke alarms (Division B 9.10.19.4 (2)). A house with a suite: In a house with a secondary suite, the smoke alarms are photo-electric and interconnected through both homes and their shared spaces, or each home gets an extra interconnected one, depending on the fire separation's rating; neither is needed where the separations are rated 45 minutes or the house is sprinklered (Division B 9.10.19.5 (2), (3)). CO alarms in a house with a suite are interconnected the same way (9.32.4.2 (7)). Carbon monoxide alarms: Under the Building Code, a home served by or containing a fuel-burning appliance (a gas, oil or propane furnace, water heater or fireplace, or a wood stove), or with a storage garage, needs CO alarms: inside each bedroom, or outside it within 5 m of its door, where the appliance is in the home or a garage shares a wall or floor with it; and in the service room where the appliance serving it is outside the home. A room with a wood or other solid-fuel stove gets one fixed in place, on or near the ceiling unless its maker says otherwise (Division B 9.32.4.2). Which edition: The 2024 editions of both codes took effect on March 8, 2024; a house is held to the Building Code edition its permit was issued under. The City of Vancouver has its own building by-law, which we haven't read. What it means for a buyer: An older house needs working smoke alarms but needn't have been brought up to today's Building Code; work done under a permit since brings its part up. A home inspector notes missing or old alarms, and insurers can ask about them (our reading). Smoke alarms carry their date of manufacture: makers commonly give them about 10 years (our reading).

Are smoke and carbon monoxide alarms required in a BC home?

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