Smoke Detectors - Grrr

"Beep! Beep! Beep!" It's the smoke detector. There's no smoke, but it raises a voice as if it was "Fire! Fire! Fire!" but it was really saying "My battery is dead. My battery is dead. My battery is dead." Noble. Mostly useless. Required. And a royal pain when it is properly mounted near the peak of a cathedral ceiling in a tiny house. Grrr.

I live in a mobile home park that is old enough to be an architectural record of housing styles in small and tiny houses. Two main styles persist: cathedral ceilings, that give a sense of volume; and loft houses that require scrunching down to wander through the loft/sleeping space/work space for people with tiny desks. Loft homes have smoke detectors that residents can reach. Cathedral ceilings get tougher.

The house is roughly 10 feet wide. The outside peak height is 14 feet. I haven't measured the ceiling height, but reaching the detector requires maneuvering a tall ladder through the doorways, into a bedroom, and finding a bit of wall to prop it into. Doable? Yes. Easy and simple? No. 

At first beep I hoped it was just a bug crossing a sensor. Then it beeped again. Grrr. At least it waited until 8AM. 

I have a folding ladder. It can be a step ladder, or a long set of rungs. A step ladder is preferred because it is more stable. Nope. Not tall enough. Unfold it. Find enough room to prop it up. Notice that the slope is less than they advise. Oh well. Gotta do the job. Climb up. Take out the old battery. Realize I forgot to carry up a new battery. Crawl down. Navigate around the ladder to get a new battery. Hear a chirp because somehow this thing still has some power, in which case why have a battery? (I know. Power outages happen. But what's the likelihood that the power will be out when a fire happens and I'm in the house but don't notice? Possible, but diminishing probabilities.) Put a new battery in. Test it. LOUD! And leave the ladder in place because handling a contraption in an awkward space is also a danger.

Ah, but this is a safety feature. Gotta have safety, even if it isn't safe.

People look at tiny houses online and can be awe-struck by their style, utility, or necessity. Living in tiny houses is different. That shouldn't be a surprise. Browsing any real estate online is more a measure of the photographer rather than the designer. Smoke detectors are not a design choice, but they are required by law, or at least by insurance. Small details like smoke detectors can be important to someone wanting to live in a tiny space. 

Smoke detectors make more sense in bigger houses. An unoccupied room can hide a fire for too long. That's less likely to happen in a tiny house. Everything is more immediate. But, laws, regulations, and insurance are applied as blankets because making individual policies for custom designs would require many more inspectors. Smoke detectors, gotta have them.

I like my tiny house. It still isn't 'home'. My home has to include the hours I spend in other, frequently rented, spaces. That's fine. I don't have a mortgage. That's marvelous. The cathedral ceilings do feel more spacious. If I had a loft, I may not have to rent storage space. Handy. But, I didn't shop for my ideal house. I shopped for any space that was available and reasonable. I bought this house for $76,500. OK. So I have to maneuver a ladder through tiny spaces. That's a tradeoff, but given my age (>65) if I have to shop again, I'll keep smoke detectors in mind.

It's now been more than an hour. No more beeps. Fine. I'm feeling more confident that I can go for a bike ride and not have my house disturb the neighborhood. Whew.