What a Home Needs Before Anything Goes Wrong

There is a short list of things a home needs that nobody enjoys buying. They are cheap, they are dull, they sit doing nothing for years, and they are only ever judged on a single occasion.

That is the organising principle here, and it changes what "good" means. These are chosen on coverage and on where they have to be, not on features — because the difference between a device that is present and correctly placed and one that is not is total, while the difference between a competent one and an excellent one is small.

One thing before the list. Placement rules, legal duties and certification standards genuinely differ by country and by whether you rent or own, and several have changed recently. Where this page and your local fire service or building regulations disagree, they are right and this is not.

A note on this collection: this rests on published specifications, manufacturer documentation and the way each kind of failure develops — not on first-hand use, which in this category would mean something has gone badly wrong. See how we test.

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A smoke alarm, in the right place

The device most homes already have at least one of, and the one most often fitted where it will be switched off.

The two rooms people instinctively choose — kitchen and bathroom — are the two that set an alarm off during ordinary cooking and showering, and an alarm that cries wolf gets its battery taken out. That is the failure that matters, and it is a placement failure rather than a product one.

Where they go, and why the ceiling rather than the wall, is in where smoke alarms actually go.

A carbon monoxide alarm

The one that covers something you cannot detect yourself, which is the entire argument for it.

It is not interchangeable with a smoke alarm — different sensor, different gas, different position in the room, and a combined unit is a convenience rather than an upgrade. If the home has any fuel-burning appliance, a flue, or an attached garage, this is the item on the page with the clearest case.

A fire blanket

The kitchen's answer, and it is on this list rather than an extinguisher for a specific reason.

A blanket does one thing, the instructions fit on the packet, and the situation it suits — a pan that has caught — is the most common domestic fire and the one where the correct action is simple. It is also the item most likely to be reachable, because it hangs on a wall rather than living in a cupboard.

What it covers and where it stops is set out in a fire blanket and what it is for.

A water leak sensor

The one on this page that saves money rather than anything else, and the one people fit last.

A slow leak under a sink or behind a washing machine does its damage precisely because nobody is looking at it. A sensor is a small puck that sits on the floor at the low point and makes an invisible failure audible, usually before the floor is involved.

Where a flat actually floods, and in what order, is in leak sensors and where a flat floods quietly.

An appliance drip tray

The least interesting object in this house and the one that turns a repair into a wipe.

A tray under a washing machine or dishwasher holds the first litres of a failure and, in the version with an outlet, directs them somewhere visible. In a flat with neighbours below, that difference is the difference between your problem and everybody's.

What was left out

A kitchen fire extinguisher. Not because they do not work, but because using one is a decision under pressure: it requires the right class for the fire, a clear escape route behind you, and a willingness to stand and fight rather than leave. General guidance in many countries is to get out and call the fire service, and this site is not the right place to talk anyone out of that. A blanket for a pan, and the door, is the recommendation here.

Connected and app-linked versions of everything above. They add a real capability and a real dependency. Neither settles it, and a page like this should not pretend otherwise — the deciding question is whether you would rather have one more thing that can go offline.

Escape ladders, safes and door bars. All defensible purchases, none of them on the same list. This one is deliberately confined to devices that watch for a failure or contain one.

Anything requiring a permanent fixing in a rented home. The constraint that shapes most of this site applies here too — see a flat you are not allowed to change.