Home Safety Checklist For College Station

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:

Monitored Home Security System: All your doors and windows should use a sensor that warns your family to a break-in. After your alarm trips, your monitoring expert responds to the call and calls a first responder.

Smart Lights For Every Major Room: Sure, you can set your smart bulbs so your house is more eco-conscience. But they can also allow you to remain safe during an emergency. Make your smart bulbs flash on when a sensor trips to scare off burglars or brighten the way out to a safe area.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in College Station should save you 10%-15% in energy spending. But it also can turn on your exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

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.

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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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:

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.
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.

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.
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.
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:

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.
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.

Textured Bathtub Stickers: Likewise, a bathtub can be a slippery place to move in. It’s a good idea that every bathtub has some no-slip stickers so your feet and toes have a bumpy patch for stability.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have little children or someone with memory difficulties, you need to take extra care regarding prescribed medicine. Secure your prescriptions by getting a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Just like the kitchen, you need to also install a grounded circuit interrupter outlet on each bathroom circuit. These will stop the flow of the electric current if water splashes on them or they experience a sudden jolt from a hair dryer or curling iron.

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:

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.

Tableside Security Camera: A camera sitting on your toddler’s desk can act as an HD baby monitor that you can view with your phone. And if they want your help, they can push the intercom talk feature included on the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While every outlet should have protective covers on them to protect your little children, this is especially needed in their bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your toddler will most likely play solo without consistent parental supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you use bedrooms on the second floor, then you need to have a window escape ladder. These can let your children get out of their room in case the stairway or downstairs are engulfed in smoke and fire. Remember to practice how to employ them at least twice a year.

Toy Box Or Low Shelves: It’s weird to look at a toy box as a safety device, but you’ll get it if you’ve ever walked on an action figure in your socked feet. A uncluttered floor let your child have a quick way out during a safety or security event.

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.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your dresser helps you know what’s going on without getting out of bed. You could always turn on your ADT mobile app but, the large touchscreen may be better to use when you’re yawning and disoriented.

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.

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.
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.

Heat Sensor: The drawback with a master bedroom is that they might be too warm or be chilly since they sit across the house from the thermostat. A heat sensor will talk to your smart thermostat so you can have a comfortable, restful sleep at just the right climate.

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:

Flood Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood alarm by your water heater or sump pump can stop you from finding a lake when you walk into your basement or garage. It’s sure better than sifting through a heap of destroyed storage boxes.

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.
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.
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.
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:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s knocking on the front door before you open it and chat with guests. View deliveries and look at video clips if they are stolen.

Outdoor Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to alert you to unusual movement in your yard. These cameras come in handy in places where you may not have a window installed -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.

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.
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.

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.