Your parent is coming home, and the house has been quiet for a while. Before anyone is alone in it, walk the floors and look at every smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm. This is a short job. It decides who climbs, who swaps, and who signs off.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Walk the house and count

Start with a list on paper. Write one line for each alarm: the room or hall it sits in, whether it is a smoke unit, a carbon monoxide unit, or a combined unit, and what powers it. Some alarms take a battery you can see. Some are wired into the house with a battery backup. Some are sealed units with no battery door at all. Each type gets a different answer below.

Then read the date printed on the back or side of each unit. Manufacturers print an end-of-life or manufacture date. If that date has passed, the unit gets replaced, not patched with a fresh battery. Write each date on your list next to its line.

Test before you decide

Press the test button on each unit and listen. A chirp that repeats every so often usually means a low battery. A steady alarm means the unit is sounding. Note any unit that is silent, sounds wrong, or sticks. Do not leave a chirping unit for later. If your parent will be the only one home, that chirp is the job that cannot wait for the next visit.

Decide who climbs

Most ceiling alarms need a stepladder or a sturdy chair. Ask three questions. Can you reach it safely from the floor, without standing on a chair or stool? Is the ceiling high, or is the stairwell narrow? Will your parent need steadying or lifting for any part of the job? If the answer to any of these is no, the job goes to a family member who is steady on a ladder, or to a hired hand. Your parent does not climb.

Battery-only units are a simple swap. Open the cover, replace the battery with the type printed on the unit, close it, and test it again. Hardwired units with a backup battery are different. In many houses, changing a unit on a wired circuit is an electrician's job, and a replacement that does not match the wiring can fail when it matters most. If a hardwired unit has to come out, hire it out. Sealed units are replaced as whole units, so the question becomes reach and fit, not battery type. Carbon monoxide alarms matter most if the home has gas appliances, such as a furnace, water heater, range, or an attached garage, so check those rooms first.

Ask the hired person these

If you hire the check, ask four things before the appointment. Will they test every unit and write down what they found? Will they replace any unit past its printed date, and is that charge written out before they start? Who handles hardwired units that need an electrician, and is that a separate visit? Will they leave you a written list of what was replaced, with the date printed on each new unit?

Look for a free check first

Before you pay anyone, ask whether your local fire department does home safety checks. Some do, and some will check or help with alarms for a home where an older adult lives. Your utility may also run a program. The Local Help After a Discharge page lists where to start in the St. Louis area. Make the call, and write down the name of the person who answered and what they said they would do.

Close the loop before the car arrives

Put the list by the front door or on the refrigerator. Each alarm line gets one mark: tested, replaced, or hired out with a visit date. Any alarm still chirping on the day your parent comes home is a stop sign. Fix it, or get help with it, before anyone leaves your parent alone in the house. The Day 0 to Day 14 After Discharge guide keeps this list beside the other homecoming tasks. The Sources page shows where the safety guidance comes from.

The Alarm Chirp Is a Chore: Decide Whether You Change the Battery or Hire the Check