Whole-house safety package

Six wireless interlinked alarms — four smoke, two combination CO — sized for a three or four bedroom house on two floors with a basement, plus the 2.5 lb kitchen extinguisher, the 5 lb garage extinguisher and the 200-piece household first-aid kit.

This is the package we would fit to our own house, and it is the one most people should start from rather than buying an alarm at a time over five years while the coverage stays incomplete. Bought separately, about $405.

Fitting and care. Pair and label all six alarms on a table before any go up, and write the same install date on every one. One per storey plus one outside each sleeping area, then use the remainder in bedrooms whose doors are normally shut. Test the link monthly from a rotating unit. Fit the two extinguishers on the same day — kitchen between the cooker and the exit, garage by the house door — and start the tag record immediately. Set one recurring six-monthly reminder for the whole package rather than several.