Home Safety Checklist For Charlottesville

Staying safe in your house should be your number one responsibility. But are you missing some key safety components? Look over this home safety checklist for Charlottesville and discover where your house can use greater attention.

This guide begins with five whole-home safety ideas, and then we delve down room-by-room. Then, phone (434) 214-6134 or fill out the form below to get your house safe and secure.

Basic Home Safety Checklist for Charlottesville

While you should use a room-to-room method for home safety, there are some methods that work for multiple rooms. These items can sync together through a smart hub, and can even work off other components. You might also control every one of your home safety devices using a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: Each one of your windows and doors should have a sensor that warns your family to forced entry. After an alarm goes off, your monitoring expert answers the alert and immediately sends a first responder.

Smart Lighting For Most Rooms: Of course, you can set your smart lights to become more eco-conscience. But they can also help you keep safe throughout an emergency. Have your lights flip on when a security alarm triggers to scare off robbers or illuminate the way out to a secure location.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Charlottesville should save you up to 15% in energy spending. Also, it can turn on the exhaust fan during a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you need to have a smoke detector on each level. You can improve your fire readiness by utilizing a monitored fire detector that senses unusual smoke and heat, and notifies your 24/7 monitoring team when it thinks that there’s a fire.

Smart Door Locks: Every entryway that needs a keyed lock can upgrade to a smart door lock. Now you may assign codes to friends and family and get notifications to your mobile device when your locks are unlocked. Your smart lock can even automatically turn off, letting you quickly leave if you have a fire or other emergency.

Family Room/Living Room Safety Checklist For Charlottesville

You’ll spend a lot of time in your living room, so it can be the most reasonable area to start making your home more secure. Highly sought after items, like a big screen or video games, probably sit in your living room, making it an alluring room for burglars. Begin with hanging a motion detector or security camera in there, then take a look at all these suggestions:

Motion Sensors: By installing motion detectors, you’ll get a shrieking alarm whenever they detect unexpected motion in your living room. Look for motion detectors that filter out a dog or cat or you’ll get your sirens go off every time your dog comes in for a midnight stroll.
Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera gives you a constant watch on your living room. Get real-time feeds of the area so you can know what’s downstairs from the mobile app. Or talk with your family in the living room using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Make sure you protect all your electronics and stop overburdening your electric system with a surge protector. For additional comfort, install a smart plug with anti-surge functionality included.
Entertainment Center Secured To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll need to secure your bookshelves and entertainment center to your wall. This is especially crucial if your family room uses rugs or carpet that can make furniture extra unstable.
Enhanced Locks For Glass Doors: If your family room uses a glass door that opens to a backyard, deck, or porch, you already get that the latch is pretty thin. Put in a special lock, like a metal bar or small locks that secures the door to the top and bottom of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Charlottesville

Your kitchen has plenty of items that should add comfort and safety to your house. Most of these objects are also simple to add and should be found in the a retail store:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can come from from an unwatched skillet or a faulty burner. Always keep a fire extinguisher at hand for any kitchen mishaps.
GFCI Box On Every Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be installed on outlets where they’re close to running water to ward off a deadly shock. That means the plugs around your sink and kitchen counter. Since the late ‘80s, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per dedicated circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, try to install a separate GFCI on each outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is handy in kitchens that use natural gas for the oven and stove. If your gas lines leak, the carbon monoxide detector will cause a loud, buzzing sound and call your monitoring expert.
Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety hazard in the kitchen is actually bacteria and contamination from uncooked meat and vegetables. Always store antiviral wipes or a bleach spray to clean your surfaces before and after making a meal.
Refrigerator Alarm: The food items in the fridge should remain at a cold temperature to stay ready to consume. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door ajar, then a small beep will remind you to shut it securely. Some appliances already have an alarm, older models don’t, and you’ll have to buy a fridge alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Charlottesville

Just because you may not have a bunch of square footage in your bathroom, you will still have safety hazards. From water problems to medicine care, here are five safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or shower can lead to an expensive amount of water damage. Deal with a water problem with a flood detector and save yourself from reflooring the entire bathroom.
Non-slip Shower Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be a painful occurrence, causing pulled muscles, gashed heads, or trips to the hospital. Or prevent these problems with a non-slip bathroom mat for after your bath or shower.

Textured Bathtub Stickies: Likewise, a bathtub can be a slippery place to be on. Make sure every bathtub has some textured strips so your feet and toes have a bumpy patch for stability.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have curious kids or a family member with memory complications, you have to take additional care regarding prescription medicine. Hide away your bottles by getting a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

GFCI Circuits: Similarly to the kitchen, you need to also install a safer GFCI outlet on every bathroom circuit. These will cut the electricity if water enters the outlet or you have a sudden surge from an electric razor or hair dryer.

Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Charlottesville

A child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with manageability. If their window shades or other items are safe but tricky to use, then your kids may try dangerous activities -- like scale a dresser -- to use them. Here are 5 straightforward, yet safe, ideas:

No Cord Window Coverings: Safety agencies have long called window treatment cords a secret hazard for kids and pets. Put in motorized treatments that kids can easily control via remote control. Or even better, link your shades to your ADT smart hub so they open automatically at dawn, and go down in the evening for added darkness.

Indoor Security Camera: A camera perched on your kid’s dresser can double as a baby monitor that you can watch from your phone. And when they want you, they can hit the intercom talk button included on the camera.

Outlet Covers: While every outlet should have covers on them for your young children, this is especially needed in their bedroom. It’s the main place in your home where your children will most likely be solo without consistent parental supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you have bedrooms on an upper floor, then you should install a window safety ladder. These will let a young one escape even if the hallway or lower levels are on fire. Make sure to rehearse how to employ the ladder one or two times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s interesting to view a toy box as a safety component, but you’ll see the light if you’ve ever tramped on a building block in your bare feet. A clean floor gives your child a quick retreat during a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Charlottesville

Your master bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety components make you more responsive if there's an emergency. After all, being jerked awake by a wailing siren can be quite a shock.

Home Security Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your bedside table lets you see what’s what that noise was without leaving your bed. You could alternatively turn on your ADT mobile app. However, the touchscreen is often easier to manage to use when you’re yawning and finding your bearings.

Phone Charging Area: We depend on our phones for almost everything now alarms, web browsers, game machines, and maybe even phones. But, a dead device can cut us off from communications if during an emergency. To keep it nice and ready, a charging station or cord is should be used nightly.

Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A tiny light can be a beacon when you’re bolted awake from an alarm or unexpected sounds. If you have trouble falling asleep with a nightlight, use a smart bulb in your bedroom and hall. Then you can control light anytime with a push of a button or voice command.
Fireproof Safe: Stash your essential documents like insurance cards, stock certificates, or a bankbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a large one that sits out of the way or a slender portable safe that you can snatch as you escape during a fire or break-in.

Heat Sensor: The drawback with bedrooms is that they can run too hot or be frigid since they are located far from the thermostat. A temperature sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you should have a comfortable, peaceful sleep at a wonderful temperature.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Charlottesville

Most safety issues in the basement or garage are with your water heater or HVAC system. Seeing hazards at the source can stave away larger problems in the future. So, as you look around your storage areas, check over these safety items:

Flood Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Placing a flood sensor in back of your water heater or sump pump drain can prevent you from discovering a lake when you go into your basement or garage. The last you need is to spend the weekend getting rid of standing water and sorting through all those soggy boxes.

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s nice to have a CO alarm in areas where a gas leak can occur. If you use gas heat, try to install a detector in the same area as your HVAC unit.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your water alarm finds a hot water leak or a busted pipe, then you will want to cap the main water valve immediately. With a remote shutoff valve, you can turn off your water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re out of town and get an emergency leak notification on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open leads to all sorts of headaches. You can lose a bunch of HVAC energy through that large opening, and rodents or intruders can just walk in. A sensor will alert you to a forgotten garage door and lets you close it with your phone.
Heat Sensor: A temperature alarm in your garage or basement is handy if you worry about frozen pipes. The heat in these areas can be surprisingly different than the main part of the house, so you will want to have a closer eye on them by using your security mobile app.

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Charlottesville

Your foliage, driveway, and front porch are just as crucial to secure as the rest of your home. Try the items on this checklist to defend your perimeter:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s arrived at the door before you answer it and welcome visitors. View packages and look at video clips if they are taken.

Outdoor Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to notify you about suspicious activity in your yard. These cameras are nice in areas where you may not have a window installed -- like a side yard or by the garage door.

Low Shrubs: Tall foliage can offer some solitude, but they also obscure your view of the yard and curb. Don’t provide potential thieves a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall bushes or foliage against your house can clog gutters and bring in pests.
ADT Signs And Decals: One of the largest disincentives for a break-in is alerting would-be rogues that you use a state-of-the-art security system. An ADT sign by the front door and a window sticker will show lurkers that they should move on to an unprotected target.

Motion Controlled Porch Lights: Light is the largest enemy to those who sneak around in the dark. Motion-activated lighting on your deck, porch, or garage can frighten possible intruders away. They also help you get inside when you get back home late after work.

Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You Finish Your Home Safety Checklist for Charlottesville

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install every item on your Charlottesville home safety checklist, we can bring you a powerful security system. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can personalize the perfect system for your home’s needs. Just phone (434) 214-6134 for more information or complete the form below. Or personalize your own solution with our Security System Designer.