Staying safe and secure in your residence should be your topmost priority. But are you forgetting some key safety components? Use this home safety checklist for College Station and discover where your living space needs an update.
This guide begins with five whole-house safety techniques, and then we delve down room-by-room. Then, call (979) 330-5973 or send in the form below to get your house set up.
Whole Home Safety Checklist for College Station
While you will want to employ a room-by-room approach to home safety in College Station, there are some things that work for a lot of your rooms. These items can talk together through a wireless hub, and often can respond to one another. You can also manage every one of your home safety devices through a smartphone app, like ADT Control:
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Monitored Fire Detectors: At the very least, you should have a fire detector on each level of your house. You can improve your fire game by utilizing a monitored fire alarm that detects both heat and smoke, and pings your round-the-clock monitoring agents when it senses a fire.
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Smart Locks: Every entryway that utilizes a deadbolt can be made safer with a smart lock. Now you can program codes to family and friends and get notifications to your phone when your locks are used. Your smart lock can even automatically open, allowing you to quickly leave if you have an emergency.
Family Room/Living Room Safety Checklist For College Station
You’ll hang out most in your living room, so it’s the best room to kick off your home safety optimization. Highly sought after items, like your TV or video games, probably sit in your family room, making it an alluring room for robbers. Begin with placing a motion detector or indoor security camera by the doorway, then take a look at all these safety protocols:
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Motion Sensors: By hanging motion detectors, you’ll hear a loud siren whenever they sense suspicious motion within your family room. The best devices are motion detectors that aren’t set off by pets or you’ll see an alert each time your cat roams by for a drink of water.
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Security Camera: An indoor security camera puts a constant watch on your family room. Get constant streams of your room so you can find out what’s going on from the mobile app. Or speak with family members in the living room with the two-way talk feature.
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Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Protect those electronics and quit overburdening your electric system with a surge protector. For extra convenience, install a smart plug with surge protection built-in.
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Entertainment Center Attached To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll want to attach your bookshelves and entertainment center to a wall. This is especially crucial if your living room has carpeting that can make furniture extra wobbly.
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Enhanced Locks For Glass Doors: If your family room has a sliding glass door that opens to a backyard, deck, or porch, you know that the lock is pretty flimsy. Use a custom lock, like a cross bar or locks that bolt to the top and bottom of the door frame.
Kitchen Safety Checklist For College Station
The kitchen has plenty of items that can provide comfort and safety to your house. Most of these items should be easy to add and should be bought from the grocery store:
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Fire Extinguisher: A fire can happen from an overfilled skillet or an errant grease splatter. Always have a fire extinguisher at hand for any stove or oven emergencies.
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GFCI Box On Every Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be standard everywhere they’re by running water to prevent an electric shock. That includes the outlets by your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been code to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, try to have a single GFCI per outlet.
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Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is handy in kitchens that use gas for the stove and oven. If your gas appliances malfunction, the carbon monoxide detector will emit a high-decibel noise and ping your monitoring professional.
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Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety problem in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and contamination from uncooked meat and other foods. Always keep antiviral wipes or an antibacterial spray to scrub off your counters after cooking.
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Refrigerator Alarm: The food items in the fridge should remain at a constant temperature to be healthy to use. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door ajar, then a constant beep will remind you to close the door. Some fridges come with an alarm, others do not, and you’ll have to get an external alarm from online.
Bathroom Safety Checklist For College Station
Just because you don’t a lot of space in your bathroom there’s still safety concerns. From flood prevention to anti-surge outlets, here are a few safety improvements for your bathroom:
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Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or bathtub can cause an expensive amount of destruction. Deal with pooling water early with a flood detector before they cause hundreds of dollars in damage.
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Textured Shower Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be devastating, causing pulled muscles, bruises, or sprained ankles. Make sure you prevent these issues with a no-slip bath mat for after your bath or shower.
Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For College Station
A child’s bedroom should balance safety with manageability. If their window coverings or other things are safe but tricky to use, then your children may get around the device with dangerous methods -- like climb a chest of drawers -- to use them. Here are 5 straightforward, yet safe, ideas:
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No Cord Window Coverings: Safety experts have identified cords from shades and blinds a hidden problem for kids and pets. Put in motorized blinds or shades that you can easily control through a remote control. Or better yet, connect your shades to your ADT security system so they rise without anyone’s help at dawn, and go down at bedtime for extra privacy.
Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For College Station
The master bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety items make you more responsive if you experience an emergency. After all, being wrenched awake by a wailing siren can be quite a shock.
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Personal Charging Area: We use our cell phones for so much now alarms, internet searches, time wasters, and --legend has it-- even phones. But, an uncharged cell will cut us off from reaching help if there’s a problem. So, a charging cord or station becomes an important part of your nightstand.
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Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A small light helps ground you when you’re startled awake from a fire alarm or unexpected noises. If you won’t drift off to sleep with a small nightlight, use smart lights in your bedroom. Then you can get light on-demand with a mobile device or voice direction.
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Fireproof Safe: Store your vital documents like birth certificates, medical information, or a bankbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your safe can be a big one that sits in your closet or a slender handheld lockbox that you can carry on your way out during a fire or other emergency.
Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For College Station
Most safety issues in the basement or garage deal with your water heater or HVAC system. Seeing problems early can prevent more devastating emergencies later on. So, as you take a look around your garage or basement, check over these crucial items:
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CO Detector: It’s smart to hang a CO alarm in a place where a CO leak can happen. If you use gas heat, you should hang an alarm in the same area as your inbound pipes.
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Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood sensor finds a plumbing leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to shut off the primary water line immediately. With a remote shutoff valve, you can block water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s nice when you’re on vacation and receive a flood sensor alert on your phone.
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Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open brings about all types of headaches. You can waste heat through that large opening, and rodents or intruders can just wander in. A sensor will notify you about a forgotten garage door and lets you lower it remotely.
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Heat Sensor: A temperature sensor in your basement or garage is handy if you worry about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these areas can be drastically different than your main rooms of the house, so you may want to maintain a closer eye on the temp by using the ADT mobile app.
Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for College Station
Your foliage, driveway, and front porch are just as crucial to make safe as the inside of your house. Use this checklist to defend your perimeter:
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Low Shrubbery: Tall bushes can create some privacy, but they also hinder your view of the yard. Don’t give potential intruders an area to hide. Plus, high shrubs or foliage against your house can clog gutters and invite pests.
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ADT Signage: One of the most popular deterrents for home intrusion is alerting potential intruders that you use an updated ADT security system. An ADT yard sign by the front door and a window cling will tell ne'er-do-wells that they should keep walking to an easier score.
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Motion Controlled Porch Lights: Light is the largest enemy to people who skulk in the unlit places. Motion-activated lighting on your deck, patio, or garage can shoo possible intruders away. They also help you see the walk when you get to the house late after work.
Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You With Your Home Safety Checklist for College Station
While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver non-security devices on your College Station home safety checklist, we can offer a powerful home security system. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can customize the perfect system for your home’s needs. Simply call (979) 330-5973 to get started or send in the form below. Or personalize your own solution with our Security System Designer.