Home Safety Checklist For Columbus

Staying safe and secure in your house should be your number one concern. But are you missing some useful safety components? Take this home safety checklist for Columbus and find out where your house can use some work.

This guide begins with a few whole-house safety items, and then we break it down to specific room ideas. Then, phone (706) 397-7027 or fill out the form below for additional information.

Basic Home Safety Checklist for Columbus

While you should employ a individual room process for home safety in Columbus, there are some items that are good for the whole house. These items can sync with one another through a smart hub, and oftentimes react to other components. You can also control every one of your home safety equipment with a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Security System: Each one of your doors and windows should use a sensor that alerts you to forced entry. As an alarm trips, your monitoring expert answers the alert and immediately sends a first responder.

Smart Lighting For Every Major Room: Sure, you can set your smart lighting so your home is more energy-efficient. But smart lights can also allow you to remain safe throughout an emergency. Make your lights flash on when an alarm triggers to scare off robbers or illuminate a path to a secure location.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Columbus can save you between 10%-15% in utility spending. But it also can flip on an exhaust fan during a fire.

Monitored Fire Alarms: At the very least, you will have a fire detector on each level of your house. You can improve your fire preparedness by installing a monitored fire detector that senses excessive smoke and heat, and notifies your round-the-clock monitoring experts when it detects a fire.

Smart Door Locks: Every entryway that utilizes a deadbolt can upgrade to a smart lock. Now you may assign key codes to family and friends and get notifications to your mobile device when your locks are activated. Your locks can even automatically unlock, letting you quickly flee the house when you have a fire or other emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist For Columbus

You’ll spend a lot of time in the family room, so it can be the best place to improve your home safety. Electronics, like a TV or video game console, usually reside in your family room, making it an alluring room for thieves. Begin with hanging a motion sensor or indoor camera in your room, then try some of these suggestions:

Motion Detectors: By installing motion sensors, you’ll have a high-decibel alarm anytime they detect suspicious movement within your living room. The best devices are motion sensors that ignore pet movements or you’ll have an alert each time your cat roams by for a bite of food.
Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera gives you a visual on your living room. Watch live streams of everything so you can see what’s downstairs through the mobile app. Or talk with your kids when they come home from school using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect those electronics and quit overburdening your electric system with a surge protector. For extra energy-efficiency, install a smart plug with anti-surge functionality in the unit.
Entertainment Center Bolted To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll want to bolt your heavy furniture and entertainment center to a wall. This is especially important if your living room has carpeting that might make heavy objects extra wobbly.
Enhanced Locks For Sliding Doors: If your family room has a sliding door that opens to a backyard, deck, or screened-in porch, you already can see that the door lock is pretty thin. Install a custom lock, like a cross bar or small locks that bolt to the top and bottom of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Columbus

Your kitchen has room for items that can add safety and security to your home. Some of these objects should be simple to add and can be bought from the a retail store:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can come from from a neglected pot or a faulty burner. Always have a fire extinguisher in close reach for any stove or oven emergencies.
GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be installed everywhere they’re by running water to prevent electrocution. That means the outlets around your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been standard to have one circuit interrupter outlet per dedicated circuit. But if you don’t want your whole kitchen to go dead when one outlet flips, you’ll want to install an unchained GFCI per outlet.

Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is handy in spaces that employ natural gas for the stove and oven. If your gas burners spring a leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a loud siren and call your monitoring center.
Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety problem in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and contamination from uncooked meat and other foods. Always have antiviral wipes or spray to sanitize your counters after preparing food.
Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in the refrigerator need to remain at a cold temperature to be healthy to use. If you leave the refrigerator door open too long, then a small beep will tell you to close the door. Some refrigerators come with an alarm, older models don’t, and you’ll have to pick up an external alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Columbus

Just because you don’t a lot of square footage in your bathroom there’s still safety hazards. From water problems to anti-surge outlets, here are five safety ideas for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or shower can create a whole lot of destruction. Find a water problem with a flood detector and save yourself from renovating the entire bathroom.
Non-slip Bath Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be painful, causing cuts, gashed heads, or trips to the hospital. Or steer clear from these problems with a no-slip bath mat for after your bath or shower.

Textured Bathtub Strips: Another water hazard, a tub basin can be a slick surface to stand in. Make sure every tub has some textured stickies so your toes have a bumpy patch to grip.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have little children or anyone with memory lapses, you should take extra care regarding prescription medicine. Secure your prescriptions by using a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Similarly to the kitchen, you need to also install a safer circuit interrupter outlet on every bathroom receptacle. This will cut the electric current if they ever get wet or you have a sudden surge from an electric razor or hair dryer.

Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Columbus

A child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with accessibility. If their window coverings or other things are safe but tricky to manage, then your kids may get around the device with dangerous activities -- like scale a dresser -- to use them. Try these straightforward, and safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Coverings: Safety agencies have long called corded window treatments an unsuspecting hazard for children and animals. Put in motorized shades that kids can easily open and close through a remote. Or better yet, pair your shades to your security system so they can raise on a schedule when it’s time to get up, and close at bedtime for an easier sleep.

Tableside Security Camera: A camera sitting on your toddler’s desk can double as an HD baby monitor that you can watch with a mobile device. And when they want something, they can use the 2-way talk button that comes with the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While every outlet should have covers on them to protect your little children, this is especially needed in their bedroom. It’s the main place in your home where your child will most likely be solo without constant additional supervision.

Window Safety Ladder: If you use bedrooms on an upper level, then you should install a window escape ladder. These can let a child escape even if the stairway or ground floor are on fire. Remember to rehearse how to employ them a few times a year.

Toy Chest Or Low Bookshelves: It’s strange to view a toy chest as a safety item, but you’ll see the light if you’ve ever walked on a Lego in your bare feet. A clean floor gives your child a quick way out during a fire or break-in.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Columbus

The bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety items make you more responsive if you experience an emergency event. After all, being jerked awake by a loud buzzer can be quite a shock.

Home Security Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your bedside table gives you a sense of what’s happening without leaving your bed. You could always log into your ADT phone app but, the touchscreen can be easier to manage to use when you’re yawning and confused.

Device Charging Station: We rely on our smartphones for so many things now alarms, news readers, games, and --legend has it-- even phones. The only problem is that a depleted phone can cut us off from the outside world if during an emergency. So, a charging station or cord becomes an important part of your nightstand.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A tiny light helps ground you when you’re startled awake from a siren or unexpected noises. If you can’t fall asleep with a nightlight, use smart bulbs in your bedroom and hall. Then you can get light simply with a push of a button or voice direction.
Fireproof Safe: Store your important papers like social security cards, medical information, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof safe. Your lockbox can be a big one that camps out out of the way or a smaller handheld lockbox that you can carry when you leave during a fire or other emergency.

Heat Sensor: The issue with a master bedroom is that they tend to run too stuffy or be cold because they are located far from the thermostat. A heat sensor will talk to your smart thermostat so you should have a nice, restful sleep at just the right climate.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Columbus

Most safety problems in the basement or garage deal with your water or heating system. Seeing problems at the source can prevent larger problems later on. So, as you walk around your basement or garage, pay attention to these crucial items:

Water Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Installing a flood sensor in back of your water heater and sump pump drain can prevent you from wading into a mess when you go into your basement or garage. Do you really want to spend your weekend bailing out water?

CO Alarm: It’s beneficial to have a CO alarm in a place where a gas leak can happen. If you employ gas heating, try to install a detector in the same area as your HVAC unit.
Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector detects a hot water leak or a burst pipe, then you will have to cut off the primary water line quickly. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s helpful when you’re out of town and get a water leak alert on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door up leads to all types of issues. You can lose HVAC energy through that open door, and critters or thieves can just walk in. A remote sensor will text you about a neglected garage door and lets you lower it remotely.
Temperature Sensor: A heat alarm in your garage or basement is a definite if you worry about frozen pipes. The heat in these areas can be wildly different than the rest of the home, so you may want to have a constant look on them by using your security mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Columbus

Your foliage, drive, and front porch are just as imperative to make safe as the interior of your house. Try this checklist to make your outside safe:

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

Outdoor Camera: You can place outdoor security cameras to guard against unusual lurkers in your yard. These devices are especially useful in areas where you may not have a window -- like a side yard or by the garage.

Low Shrubs: High foliage can offer some solitude, but they also hinder your line of sight of the yard. Don’t offer potential intruders a place to hide. Plus, tall shrubs or trees against your structure can jam up gutters and summon bugs.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the biggest discouragements for a break-in is advertising to would-be intruders that you use a state-of-the-art home security system. An ADT yard stick by the main walk and a window sticker will show people that they might want to shove off to an easier score.

Motion Triggered Flood Lighting: Light is the best obstacle to people who lurk in the shadows. Motion-controlled flood lights on your deck, patio, or garage can shoo possible intruders away. They also help you get inside when you get to the house late at night.

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

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with every item on your Columbus home safety checklist, we can offer a customized home security system. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can install the perfect system for your home’s needs. Simply phone (706) 397-7027 to get started or send in the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.