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Do Ontario Homes Need Carbon Monoxide Alarms on Every Floor?

June 15, 2026

This one came from a fresh multi-platform sweep of recent Ontario discussions.

The repeated question was basically this:

Does Ontario now require a carbon monoxide alarm on every floor of a home, even if that floor does not have a bedroom?

The short answer is:

No, Ontario did not create a blanket rule that every floor of every home must have a carbon monoxide alarm. But where Section 2.16 applies, the Code can require alarms not only beside sleeping areas, but also on storeys without sleeping areas.

But the better answer is a little more precise than the social-media versions.

What actually triggers the rule

The every-storey requirement does not mean every home in Ontario suddenly needs a carbon monoxide alarm for no reason.

Section 2.16.1.1. tells you when the carbon monoxide alarm section applies. In practical terms, it applies to buildings containing residential or care occupancy where there is a relevant carbon monoxide source risk, including things like:

That matters because the right field question is not just, "Do I need one on every floor?"

It is:

If my building falls into the carbon monoxide alarm section, what locations are now mandatory?

Where the Ontario Fire Code now requires them

The key wording is in Article 2.16.2.1.

For a suite with a fuel-burning appliance, flue or fireplace, Sentence 2.16.2.1.(1) requires a carbon monoxide alarm:

That second line is the one many people missed.

So if Section 2.16 applies to that suite, the basement, main floor, or upper level can still need a carbon monoxide alarm even when that level has no sleeping area.

The same pattern shows up again in other trigger situations:

So the better answer is not "yes, every floor" and it is not "no, just bedrooms."

It is:

Check whether Section 2.16 applies first. If it does, the required locations can include storeys without sleeping areas.

What this means for highrise residential

This is where a lot of condo and apartment conversations go sideways.

People hear "every floor" and assume the rule only matters in houses with a basement, main floor, and second floor.

But in highrise residential, the issue can still be very real. The difference is that the trigger often comes from the building condition around the suite, not just from a fireplace or appliance inside the suite itself.

For example:

That means a highrise owner, condo board, property manager, or landlord should not reduce the issue to:

"There is no furnace inside the unit, so the suite is fine."

That can be a weak answer if the real carbon monoxide source risk is elsewhere in the building.

There is also an added highrise detail in 2.16.2.1.(4)(b):

Where a forced-air fuel-burning appliance directly heats the building, carbon monoxide alarms may also be required in public corridors serving suites of residential occupancy, with spacing rules for those corridors.

So in a highrise, the review should usually split into two separate questions:

That is often the practical difference between a detached-house conversation and a highrise residential one.

What this means in plain language

If your house, townhouse, condo unit, apartment, or rental suite falls under the carbon monoxide alarm section because of one of the listed source conditions, the Code is no longer focused only on the bedroom area.

It now also looks at whether there are storeys without sleeping areas that still need alarm coverage.

That is why recent discussion started using plain-language summaries like "every floor," but that phrase is too blunt on its own.

The safer way to say it is:

but only in the situations the Code actually describes.

The part owners and landlords should not miss

The installation rule is only part of the job.

The Fire Code also assigns ongoing duties:

So for rental buildings, the real compliance question is not just "Did we install alarms?"

It is also:

What people get wrong

There are three weak answers showing up in current discussion:

Those are all too loose.

The better reading is:

What to check in the field

If you are reviewing a home, rental unit, or multi-unit building, the practical checklist is short:

That last point matters because 6.3.4.7.(5) says that when a carbon monoxide alarm required by Subsection 2.16.2. is replaced, the replacement has to conform to Article 2.16.2.1.

The one-line takeaway

If you only remember one thing, remember this:

Ontario did not create a blanket "every floor of every home" carbon monoxide alarm rule. The right reading is: check whether Section 2.16 applies, then install alarms in the locations it actually names, which can include storeys without sleeping areas.

References

Working with Canadian fire and building codes? Ask Codebook Carl — answers are sourced directly from the code books with exact clause citations.