Smoke Detector Installation in Portland, OR & the Metro Area

Hardwired, interconnected smoke detectors and CO alarms with battery backup — when one sounds, they all sound. A whole house is usually done in a day, across Portland, Milwaukie, Wilsonville, and surrounding communities.

A hardwired smoke detector runs on the house's power, with a battery inside as backup. It is also interconnected: a wire, or a wireless link on some units, ties every alarm together, so when one senses smoke or carbon monoxide, all of them sound. That matters at three in the morning. A battery-only alarm in the basement can sound for a long time before anyone upstairs hears it; with interconnected alarms, the one outside your bedroom sounds too. The battery backup keeps the system working in a power outage, which is when candles and portable generators come out.

Placement follows a simple pattern: an alarm inside each bedroom, one outside each sleeping area, and at least one on every level, basement included. Combined smoke and CO units cover both jobs in one spot, and a CO alarm matters most in a home with a gas furnace, gas range, fireplace or attached garage. In Portland, 38.9% of homes were built before 1940, and many older houses have no alarm circuit at all, so smoke detector installation there means running new wire between the locations, not just screwing new units to the ceiling.

Once every alarm is mounted and connected, each one is triggered in turn until we have heard the whole chain sound. A whole house is usually finished the same day. You get a written estimate before any of it begins, and we pull the electrical permit for you when new wiring goes in.