Quote Originally Posted by leo9 View Post
Which will teach me to follow my own frequently given advice, and not assume that my country's practice is universal. UK firefighters and safety organisations advise us to place detectors at high points in the ceiling, at the tops of stairs etc, with the object of making sure the smoke reaches them as soon as a fire starts. Apparently they assume the alarms are loud enough that the distance from the bedroom is less important than getting the earliest possible warning.

A reminder to all of us that what seems so logical that it must be the same everywhere, may be only a local practice.
We don't exactly place the detectors at floor level! But if you have vaulted ceilings in the living room, and normal ceiling height in the hallway outside the bedroom...the smoke detector is still placed outside the bedroom regardless of the higher ceilings elsewhere.