I am wiring an addition on an existing house. Does the code require that I install hardwired smokes in the existing part of the house as well or just in the new addition? The existing part will not be remodeled. Also, what rooms require smokes? Bedrooms, kitchen, livingroom, office, laundry room, hallways.....anything else? What about a walk-in closet located within a master bath? Attached garage, or unfinished attic containing a furnace. Thanks for the information.

Absolute question for your building dept/Fire prevention. This is not covered by the NEC.

In Massachusetts, more than 30% of total sq' or addition of a bedroom. (+-)Entire dwelling must be brought up to code.

this is a building code item. Recommended areas are bedrooms , hallway outside bedrooms main living area mechanical room each level of a multi level home.

In Michigan,whenever there is a building permit,hard wired smokes are required.1 in every bedroom.And 1 in adjacent hallway.And 1 on every level of the house.We are allowed to use battery only smokes,in area's that are not being worked on,if damage must be done for installation.

Unless house was built before November 6th 1974 , then there not required in bedrooms.(Michigan)R313.4 Page 55 /2006 MRC

This may be true. but check into when the house is sold.
This can also trigger an update to current requirements.

Merlin,
I'm from out of town, you could say.

Personally I would like to see smoke detectors in as many rooms as possible, all linked together, because you can't smell when you are asleep.
Having said that, installing a smoke detector in a kitchen is asking for trouble, if someone burns the toast, the whole house gets woken up.

Steam will also set off a smoke detector, because of the vapour, so it is best not to protect laundries with a dryer unless it is vented outside.

A note to installers of stand-alone smoke detectors, I have struck a few dodgy installs as a Fire Officer, by handymen that would negate their effectiveness.
There is a dead-air space that extends 1' from the corner of a ceiling, both horizontally out from a wall and vertically down that wall.
NEVER install a smoke detector in that space, in a fire, smoke never gets near this zone in the earlier stages.
In houses with a stairway, there should be a detector at the top ceiling above that stairway, in the centre of it, not off to one side or anything silly like that.

f you put a detector in a kithen I would use a photoelectric type.

We're talking MRC here . Most areas unless local ordance or Insurance company requires older houses not required to have them at all. Unless you can show me otherwise.

I believe you will be putting current code compliant smokes into any area that needs them and gets renovated on a permit in Florida.
I did it as a matter of course in my renovation and when my plan came back from plan review, that entry had a check mark next to it. They also put a check mark on my load calc.
I am not sure if either was really necessary but they did acknowledge it
I can ask the question over on IAEI if you like.

I found the answer for the Florida building code, that is based on the ICC codes

Over at Fl IAEI I got this citation.



Don't you love building codes?

Added was the key word & in orginal post the rooms were Additions so in that case Add but gets interesting if must be interconnected & no dectors rest of dewelling.

The responder indicated that in his jurisdiction the rule was if you can get the wire in through the attic or a crawl space you will be putting in an interconnected alarm to all sleeping areas you can get to if one is added.
He even suggested a wireless solution if you can't get them all wired.
I am curious to see if there are other interpretations. Usually, no matter what, there is somebody who reads it another way.

Wireless smoke alarms?
Hmmm.
That would be OK, as long as all models of these were on the same frequency.
And that those down the track are on the same frequency as well, the last thing we need is smoke alarms that won't "talk" to one another.
I'd imagine that things like this might be over a 2.4GHz network (like everything else "wireless" seems to be these days).
Are Wi-Fi devices in homes going to blank these signals out, or on the other side of the coin, are these things going to muck up peoples Wi-Fi signal to the degree that they will disable the detectors?
Just an "off the bat" thought.

I have never looked into them but they could be PLC. The only problem with that is your neighbor on the same transformer might get woken up every time you burn the toast.

Good one Greg.
At least over here every 3rd house is on the same phase, so they are never going to know what woke them up.
Sounds like a diplomatic nightmare to me.

I suppose that some company could offer addressable-wireless smoke alarms. Sounds cheaper to pull wire or surface mount conduit or wireway.

Florida has not gone far enough to ram wire mold down our throats but since the majority of houses are single story with an attic, anything mounted on the ceiling is generally accessible.
I know that to do this in my house was really only an extra hour or two and since I was up there anyway pulling in the extra circuits for my addition it was effectively less than that.