Home Safety Checklist For Decatur

Keeping safe and secure in your house should be your largest concern. But are you overlooking a few big safety items? Use this home safety checklist for Decatur and discover where your house requires greater attention.

This guide begins with some whole-home safety ideas, and then we break it down on a room level. Then, you can call (256) 246-8823 or fill out the form below to get your home set up.

Basic Home Safety Checklist for Decatur

While you should employ a room-to-room approach to home safety, there are a few methods that work for multiple rooms. These items can link to each other through a wireless hub, and often can respond to one another. You might also manage every one of your home safety components using a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your entryways should have a sensor that warns your family to a break-in. When your alarm trips, your monitoring team responds to the alert and calls emergency personnel.

Smart Lighting For Every Major Room: Of course, you can schedule your smart lights to make your home more energy-efficient. But smart lights can also help you stay safe in an emergency. Have your downstairs lights flip on when a sensor goes off to shoo off intruders or illuminate a path to a safe place.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Decatur could save you between 10%-15% in gas and electric spending. It also can start an exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: It’s code that you have a fire alarm on every floor. You can increase your fire preparedness by utilizing a monitored fire alarm that detects both smoke and heat, and notifies your 24-hour monitoring agents when it thinks that there’s a fire.

Smart Lock For Every Door: Every entryway that uses a keyed lock can be made safer with a smart door lock. Now you can set key codes to each family member and receive notifications to your mobile device when they are used. Your locks can even automatically unlock, letting you quickly leave when you have a fire or other emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist For Decatur

You’ll hang out most in your family room, so it’s the most reasonable area to start making your home a safer place. Highly sought after items, like a TV or video games, typically reside in your family room, making it an alluring room for thieves. Begin with installing a motion sensor or indoor security camera in there, then take a look at the following suggestions:

Motion Sensors: By installing motion sensors, you’ll hear a high-decibel siren anytime they detect unexpected motion within your family room. Look for motion detectors that ignore pet movements or you’ll have a tripped alarm every time your dog passes through for a bite of food.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts a constant watch on your family room. Get constant feeds of your room so you can see what’s downstairs without leaving your bed. Or chat with your kids when they get home from school using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Safeguard expensive electronics and quit overloading your circuits with a surge protector. For added comfort, use a smart plug with anti-surge functionality built-in.
Furniture Secured To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll need to bolt your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to a wall. This is extra crucial if your living room has rugs or carpet that might make heavy objects extra wobbly.
Enhanced Locks For Sliding Doors: If your family room has a glass door that opens to a backyard, deck, or porch, you get that the lock is usually flimsy. Use an enhanced lock, like a metal bar or small locks that are located on the bottom and top of the opening.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Decatur

Your kitchen has many items that can add safety to your home. Many of these objects should be easy to add and can be bought from the grocery store:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can spring up from a neglected skillet or an errant grease splatter. Always keep a fire extinguisher in close reach for any cooking mishaps.
GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be standard on outlets where there’s nearby running water to prevent an electric shock. That means the plugs close to your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been standard to have one GFCI per circuit. But if you don’t want your whole kitchen to flip off when one outlet trips, you’ll want to have an unchained GFCI per outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is advised for the kitchen if you employ a gas stove and oven. If your gas burners leak, the carbon monoxide detector will emit a loud, buzzing noise and ping your monitoring professional.
Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety problem in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and protein from uncooked meat and vegetables. Always store disinfectant wipes or an antibacterial spray to clean your counters after cooking.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The food items in your fridge need to remain at a chilly temperature to stay ready to consume. If you accidently leave the refrigerator door ajar, then an alarm beep will remind you to close the door. Some appliances already have this installed, older models won’t, and you’ll have to get a fridge alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Decatur

Just because you may not have a bunch of room in your bathroom, you will still have safety issues. From water problems to electric safety, here are a few safety ideas for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or tub can create an expensive amount of water damage. Get alerted early about pooling water with a flood detector and save the time and money from renovations.
Non-slip Shower Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be a painful occurrence, causing pulled muscles, sore joints, or sprained ankles. You can prevent these issues with a no-slip bath mat for after your bath or shower.

Textured Bathtub Stickers: Like a tiled floor, a tub can be a slippery place to stand in. Make sure each has some no-slip stickies so your feet and toes have a textured patch to grip.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have little kids or someone with memory complications, you have to take extra attention regarding medicine. Safeguard your prescriptions by getting a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: While installing better outlets in the kitchen, you will have to also put in a surge protecting circuit interrupter outlet on each bathroom receptacle. This will shut off the electricity if they ever get wet or there’s a harmful spike from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Decatur

Your child’s bedroom should balance safety with accessibility. If their window shades or other items are safe but difficult to manage, then your kids may get around the device with unsafe activities -- like scale a bookshelf -- to touch them. Here are 5 straightforward, yet safe, ideas:

Cord-Free Window Treatments: Safety agencies have long called corded window treatments a hidden hazard for kids and pets. Install motorized shades that your child can easily open and close through a remote. Or better yet, link your shades to your security system so they rise without anyone’s help when it’s time to get up, and go down at bedtime for an easier sleep.

Tableside Security Camera: An indoor security camera placed on your child’s desk or dresser can behave just like an HD baby monitor that you can view from a smartphone. And if they want something, they can push the intercom talk button that comes with the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While every outlet should use protective covers on them for your small children, this is doubly urgent in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one place in your home where your children will most likely be solo without consistent adult supervision.

Window Escape Ladder: If you have bedrooms on above the first story, then you need to install a window fire ladder. These will help a young one escape when the stairs or ground floor are blocked off with fire. Remember to practice how to use them one or two times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Shelves: It’s interesting to view a toy box as a safety item, but you’ll see the light if you’ve ever stepped on a building block in your socked feet. A clean floor let your child have a quick way out during an emergency.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Decatur

The main bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety components make you more responsive when there's an emergency event. After all, being jerked awake by a high-decibel siren can be confusing.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your dresser gives you a sense of what’s going on without jumping out of bed. You could alternatively use your ADT phone app. However, the large touchscreen is often better to use when you’re bleary-eyed and finding your bearings.

Phone Charging Stand: We use our cell phones for almost everything now alarm clocks, internet searches, game machines, and maybe even phones. The only problem is that an uncharged phone in the middle of the night cuts us off from the outside world if there’s a problem. So, a charging cord or station is should be used nightly.

Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A plug-in light can calm you when you’re bolted awake from a fire alarm or other loud noises. If you can’t fall asleep with a small nightlight, use smart lights in your bedroom and hall. Then you can control light anytime with a push of a button or voice command.
Fireproof Lockbox: Store your vital paperwork like insurance cards, passports, or banking information in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a big one that sits in a corner or a smaller portable safe that you can carry as you escape during an emergency event.

Temperature Sensor: The issue with a master bedroom is that they might run too hot or be chilly because they sit far away from the thermostat. A heat sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you can have a pleasant, restful sleep at just the right climate.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Decatur

Most safety problems in the basement or garage have to do with your pipes or heating system. Finding hazards before they start can prevent larger problems later on. So, as you take a look around your storage areas, pay attention to these crucial items:

Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood sensor next to your water heater and sump pump drain can save you from discovering a lake when you walk into your garage or basement. Do you really want to waste your night getting rid of standing water?

CO Alarm: It’s beneficial to have a carbon monoxide alarm in an area where a CO leak can occur. If you have a gas furnace, you’ll want to install an alarm in the same area as your unit.
Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood alarm senses a hot water heater leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to cap the main water pipe quickly. With a remote shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re out of town and see a water leak alert on your smartphone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open leads to all types of issues. You can lose a bunch of heat through that large opening, and rodents or intruders can just wander in. A sensor will notify you about a neglected garage door and lets you lower it through the app.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your garage or basement is a definite if you wonder about frozen pipes. The temperature in these rooms can be drastically different than your main rooms of the home, so you may want to maintain a constant look on them with your security mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Decatur

Your front yard, driveway, and front step are just as imperative to make safe as the interior of your house. Try the items on this checklist to create a safe outside:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s at the the front step before you open it and welcome guests. See package deliveries and review video clips if they disappear.

Outdoor Camera: You can install outdoor cameras to guard against late night lurkers in your yard. These cameras are nice in places where you might not have a window installed -- like a side yard or by the driveway.

Low Bushes: High shrubs can create some solitude, but they also hinder you seeing into the yard. Don’t give potential thieves a dark shadow to hide. Plus, large bushes, shrubs or greenery around your home can jam up gutters and invite bugs.
ADT Signs And Decals: One of the largest disincentives for a thief is advertising to would-be burglars that you own a monitored security system. An ADT yard stick by the stoop and a window decal will tell ne'er-do-wells that they ought to move on to an less prepared target.

Motion Activated Porch Lighting: Light is the biggest enemy to people who lurk in the shadows. Motion-triggered flood lights on your porch, garage, or deck can frighten lurkers away. They also help you see the walk when you arrive back home late at night.

Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Decatur

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver non-security devices on your Decatur home safety checklist, we can bring you a state-of-the-art home security system. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can personalize the ideal system for your family’s needs. Just call (256) 246-8823 to get started or send in the form below. Or personalize your own solution with our Security System Designer.