Home Safety Checklist For Charleston

Being safe and secure in your residence should be your largest concern. But are you missing one or two useful safety items? Look over this home safety checklist for Charleston and find out where your home can use greater attention.

We give you five whole-home safety techniques, and then we delve down to specific room ideas. Then, contact (304) 220-0469 or complete the form below for additional information.

Whole Home Safety Checklist for Charleston

While you will want to use a individual room method for home safety, there are some items that work for a lot of your rooms. These devices can link with one another through a touchscreen hub, and often can work off other components. You can also manage each of your home safety devices using a mobile security app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your doors and windows should use a sensor that warns you and your family to forced entry. When the alarm trips, your monitoring center answers the call and immediately sends a first responder.

Smart Lighting For Every Major Room: Sure, you can program your smart bulbs to make your house more eco-conscience. But they can also help you stay safe in an emergency. Have your downstairs lights flash on when an alarm goes off to scare off intruders or brighten the way out to a outside area.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Charleston can save you 10%-15% in energy costs. Also, it can turn on the exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you should have a smoke detector on each level. You can increase your fire game by hanging a monitored fire detector that senses unusual heat and smoke, and pings your 24/7 monitoring experts when it detects a fire.

Smart Locks: Every door that needs a deadbolt can be made safer with a smart lock. Now you may set key codes to each family member and get notifications to your smartphone when the locks are unlocked. Your doors can even automatically turn off, allowing you to quickly leave if you have a fire or dangerous situation.

Family Room Safety Checklist For Charleston

You’ll hang out most in your living room, so it’s the perfect room to start making your home more secure. Highly sought after items, like a TV or stereo system, usually reside in your family room, making it a popular area for robbers. Start with placing a motion sensor or security camera in your room, then try the following suggestions:

Motion Detectors: By installing motion sensors, you’ll get a shrieking siren anytime they sense suspicious motion in your living room. The best devices are motion sensors that aren’t set off by a dog or cat or you’ll have a tripped alarm every time your cat passes through for a midnight stroll.
Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera offers an eye on your family room. Get live streams of the area so you can know what’s downstairs without leaving your bed. Or talk with your kids in the room by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Protect all your electronics and stop overloading your circuits with a surge protector. For added convenience, use a smart plug with surge protection included.
Entertainment Center Attached To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll want to secure your heavy furniture and entertainment center to a wall. This is extra crucial if your family room uses carpeting that might make furniture extra unbalanced.
Special Locks For Glass Doors: If your family room uses a sliding door that slides out to a backyard, deck, or outside porch, you already can see that the lock is usually thin. Use a special lock, like a metal bar or small locks that secures the door to the top and bottom of the opening.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Charleston

Your kitchen has room for items that can bring comfort and safety to your house. Some of these objects are also a snap to add and should be found in the grocery store:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can come from from an unwatched pot or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always store a fire extinguisher at the ready for any kitchen mishaps.
GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be installed on outlets where they’re by water to prevent a deadly shock. That means the plugs around your sink and kitchen counter. Since 1987, it’s been code to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But if you don’t want every outlet to flip off when one outlet trips, you’re going to want to use a single GFCI on each outlet.

Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A CO detector is handy in the kitchen if you use gas for the oven and range. If your gas burners leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a high-decibel siren and contact your monitoring agent.
Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety issue in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and protein from blood from meat and other foods. Always have antiviral wipes or a bleach spray to sanitize your area after preparing food.
Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in your fridge have to stay at a cold temperature to be ready to use. If you accidently leave the fridge or freezer door ajar, then a constant beep will tell you to check the seal. Some fridges come with a pre-installed alarm, some don’t, and you’ll have to get a refrigerator alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Charleston

Just because you may not have a lot of square footage in your bathroom, you will still have safety concerns. From water problems to medicine care, here are a few safety improvements for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or shower can create extensive damage. Discover pooling water early with a flood detector before they generate hundreds to thousands of dollars in renovations.
Non-slip Shower Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be devastating, causing pulled muscles, sore joints, or trips to the hospital. You can avoid these problems with a textured bathroom mat for after your bath or shower.

Textured Bathtub Stickers: Likewise, a tub can be a slick area to move in. It’s a good idea that each bathtub has some non-slip strips so your feet have a bumpy patch to gain traction.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have curious toddlers or anyone with memory difficulties, you have to take extra precautions regarding medicine. Safeguard your bottles by getting a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

GFCI Circuits: Similarly to the kitchen, you will have to also install a surge protecting circuit interrupter outlet on each bathroom receptacle. This will shut off the electric current if water enters the outlet or they experience a harmful jolt from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Charleston

A child’s bedroom should balance safety with manageability. If their window shades or other things are safe but tricky to manage, then your child may try dangerous methods -- like shimmying up a chest of drawers -- to touch them. Here are 5 easy, and safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Treatments: Safety agencies have identified cords from shades and blinds a hidden problem for kids and pets. Put in motorized shades that you can easily open and close through a remote. Or better yet, pair your motorized treatments to your security system so they can raise on a schedule when it’s time to get up, and go down in the evening for an easier sleep.

Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera perched on your child’s desk can double as an HD baby monitor that you can watch with a mobile device. And when they need something, they can use the two-way talk button on the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While every outlet should have outlet safety caps on them to protect your little children, this is doubly needed in their bedroom. It’s the main place in your house where your child will most likely be by themselves without consistent adult supervision.

Window Escape Ladder: If you have bedrooms on an upper level, then you should put in a window fire ladder. These can help your children get out of their room when the hallway or downstairs are blocked off with fire. Just remember to rehearse how to use the ladder a few times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Shelves: It’s interesting to view a toy box as a safety component, but you’ll get it if you’ve ever tramped on a Lego in your stocking feet. A clean floor gives your child a quick escape during a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Charleston

The bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety items make you more responsive if there's an emergency. After all, being wrenched awake by a loud alarm can be quite a shock.

Smart Hub Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your dresser gives you a sense of what’s happening without jumping out of bed. You could alternatively turn on your ADT mobile app. However, the touchscreen can be faster to use when you’re yawning and confused.

Device Charging Station: We use our phones for so much now alarm clocks, news readers, games, and --legend has it-- even phones. But, a depleted phone in the middle of the night cuts us off from reaching help if during an emergency. To keep it nice and ready, a charging cord or station becomes an important part of your nightstand.

Nightlight/Smart Lights: A small light helps ground you when you’re jolted awake from a siren or unexpected noises. If you won’t drift off to sleep with an outlet light, use a smart bulb in your bedroom and hall. Then you can control light simply with a mobile device or voice direction.
Fireproof Safe: Keep your important paperwork like birth certificates, medical information, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your safe can be a big one that is located in a corner or a slender portable lockbox that you can grab on your way out during a fire or break-in.

Temperature Sensor: The issue with a master bedroom is that they might run too warm or be chilly because they are far from the thermostat. A heat sensor can communicate to your smart thermostat so you should have a comfortable, relaxing sleep at a wonderful climate.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Charleston

Most safety issues in the garage or basement have to do with your pipes or furnace. Discovering issues early can stop more devastating problems in the future. So, as you look around your garage or basement, check over these crucial items:

Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Installing a flood sensor next to your water heater or sump pump drain can save you from finding a mess when you step into your garage or basement. Do you really want to spend your night getting rid of standing water?

CO Detector: It’s smart to hang a CO detector in an area where a CO leak can happen. If you employ gas heating, you’ll want to install an alarm in the same place as your HVAC unit.
Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood alarm senses a hot water leak or a burst pipe, then you will want to cap the main water line quickly. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s perfect when you’re out of town and receive an emergency leak alert on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage up leads to all sorts of headaches. You can lose HVAC energy through that open door, and all sorts of animals or thieves can just wander in. A remote sensor will alert you to an open garage door and lets you close it with your phone.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your basement or garage is a definite if you fret about frozen pipes. The heat in these rooms can be surprisingly different than the rest of the home, so you will need to keep a closer eye on them with the ADT mobile app.

Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for Charleston

Your landscaping, driveway, and front walk are just as crucial to make safe as the rest of your home. Try this checklist to create a safe outside:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s arrived at the door before you answer it and talk to guests. View package deliveries and look at video clips if they are stolen.

Outdoor Camera: You can place outdoor cameras to notify you about unusual activity in your yard. These security cameras come in handy in places where you might not have a window -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.

Low Bushes: Overgrown bushes can offer some privacy, but they also block your line of sight of the yard and curb. Don’t offer potential intruders a dark shadow to hide. Plus, large bushes or greenery too close to your structure can jam up gutters and summon bugs.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the biggest deterrents for a break-in is advertising to potential intruders that you use a state-of-the-art home security system. An ADT yard sign by the main walk and a window cling will show people that they might want to shove off to an less prepared score.

Motion Activated Porch Lighting: Light is the largest deterrent to people who sneak around in the dark. Motion-controlled lights on your porch, garage, or deck can shoo possible intruders away. Lights also help you see the walk when you come back home on those dark, winter nights.

Contact Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You With Your Home Safety Checklist for Charleston

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver every item on your Charleston home safety checklist, we can discuss a state-of-the-art home security. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can customize the best system for your family’s needs. Just call (304) 220-0469 to get started or complete the form below. Or personalize your own solution with our Security System Designer.