Your landlord must provide you with a smoke detector. If your apartment is connected to any room where fossil fuels are burned, they also have to provide you with a carbon monoxide detector. But the detectors they provide are usually the cheapest ones they can find at the hardware store. The batteries wear out frequently, they tend to give false alarms if you take a hot shower or burn your toast, and they're just generally not the best option available.
Fortunately, modern innovators have brought a lot of products to the market that are upgrades to the average $20 Home Depot special. Today we'll be featuring six options that renters can consider for their apartments that require little to no alteration to your apartment and won't break your budget.
Note: We have not been paid or contacted by any of the companies that manufacture these devices. We also haven't gotten our hands on any of them to test them, so this isn't a recommendation, it's just a list of options that we think are nifty.
Roost (getroost.com) - $35
This isn't really a smoke detector. Rather, it's a replacement smart battery for your existing detector. It's the same size and shape as a 9-volt battery. Stick it into your smoke or CO detector and it will gain the ability to communicate with an app on your phone over wifi, notifying you of any alerts. It's got a 5 year lifespan, too, which means it'll probably last longer than your lease. Continue reading Six Smart Smoke Detector Upgrades That Work in Apartments