Home Safety Checklist For Tuscaloosa

Keeping safe in your home should be your topmost concern. But are you missing one or two useful safety components? Take this home safety checklist for Tuscaloosa and discover where your home requires an update.

This guide begins with a few whole-house safety ideas, and then we break it down on a room level. Then, contact (205) 315-0267 or complete the form below to speak to a security expert.

General Home Safety Checklist for Tuscaloosa

While you should take a room-to-room process for home safety, there are some things that work for a lot of your rooms. These components can sync with one another through a smart hub, and can even work off one another. You can also control all your home safety devices through a mobile security app, like ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your entryways should have a sensor that alerts your family to a break-in. When the alarm goes off, your monitoring center picks up the call and immediately calls the police or fire department.

Smart Lights For Every Major Room: Sure, you can schedule your smart lighting so your house is more efficient. But they can also allow you to keep safe during an emergency. Make your downstairs lights come on when an alarm goes off to scare off intruders or brighten a path to a secure location.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Tuscaloosa should save you between 10%-15% in energy spending. Also, it can start your exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Fire Alarms: It’s code that you will have a fire detector on every level of your house. You can increase your fire game by installing a monitored fire detector that looks for excessive smoke and heat, and notifies your 24-hour monitoring agents when it detects a fire.

Smart Locks: Every doorway that uses a deadbolt can use a smart lock. Now you may preset codes to friends and family and get texts to your phone when the locks are used. Your locks can even automatically turn off, letting you quickly get out during a fire or other emergency.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Tuscaloosa

You’ll hang out most in the family room, so it can be the most reasonable place to start making your house safer. Electronics, like a TV or stereo system, usually reside in your family room, making it an alluring space for burglars. Begin with installing a motion detector or indoor security camera by the doorway, then continue on with all these safety protocols:

Motion Detectors: By putting in motion detectors, you’ll hear a loud siren whenever they sense unexpected movement in your living room. Look for motion detectors that ignore pets or you’ll have an alert every time your pet roams by for a bite of food.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera offers a visual on your living room. View constant feeds of everything so you can find out what’s going on from the mobile app. Or chat with your family in the room by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect those electronics and stop overloading your circuits with a surge protector. For extra convenience, install a smart plug with anti-surge functionality in the unit.
Furniture Secured To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll want to bolt your bookshelves and entertainment center to a wall. This is extra crucial if your family room uses rugs or carpet that can make heavy objects extra unstable.
Enhanced Locks For Sliding Doors: If your family room uses a sliding glass door that opens to a patio, deck, or outside porch, you probably know that the latch is usually thin. Use a special lock, like a metal bar or locks that bolt to the bottom and top of the frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Tuscaloosa

Your kitchen has many items that should provide safety and security to your house. Most of these things should be a snap to add and should be purchased from the a retail store:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can spring up from a neglected pot or an errant grease splatter. Always store a fire extinguisher at the ready for any stove or oven emergencies.
GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be used anywhere they’re close to water to lessen the chance of an electric shock. That means the outlets by your kitchen counter and sink. Since 1987, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, try to install a single GFCI for every outlet.

Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A CO detector is advised for spaces that have gas for the oven and stove. If your gas burners spring a leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a loud sound and call your monitoring professional.
Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The largest safety hazard in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and protein that comes with blood from meat and vegetables. Always store disinfectant wipes or an antibacterial spray to scrub off your surfaces after preparing food.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in the refrigerator should stay at a cold temperature to stay safe to consume. If you leave the refrigerator door ajar, then a constant beep will tell you to shut it securely. Some fridges come with a pre-installed alarm, older models do not, and you’ll have to get an external alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Tuscaloosa

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

Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or tub can cause an expensive amount of damage. Get alerted early about pooling water with a flood detector before they cause hundreds of dollars in ruined floors, walls, and fixtures.
No-slip Bath Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing cuts, bruises, or trips to the hospital. You can prevent these problems with a no-slip bathroom mat for your wet feet.

No-slip Bathtub Stickies: Another water hazard, a tub can be a slippery place to move in. It’s a good idea that every tub has some textured stickers so your toes have a rough patch for stability.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have little children or anyone with memory complications, you should take additional care regarding medicine. Safeguard your bottles by getting a medicine cabinet with a child-proof lock.

GFCI Circuits: Similarly to the kitchen, you should also put in a grounded GFCI outlet on each bathroom circuit. This will stop the flow of the current if water enters the outlet or there’s a sudden jolt from an electric razor or hair dryer.

Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Tuscaloosa

Your child’s bedroom should balance safety with simplicity. If their window shades or other items are safe but hard to operate, then your child may perform unsafe methods -- like shimmying up a bookshelf -- to touch them. Here are some straightforward, yet safe, ideas:

No Cord Window Coverings: Safety professionals have designated cords from shades and blinds an unsuspecting problem for kids and pets. Use motorized shades that you can easily manage with a remote. Or go state-of-the-art and connect your motorized treatments to your ADT smart hub so they open on a schedule at dawn, and lower at night for an easier sleep.

Indoor Security Camera: A camera sitting on your kid’s desk can behave just like a baby monitor that you can watch with your phone. And when they need your help, they can use the intercom talk feature on the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While every outlet should use outlet safety caps on them to protect your young children, this is especially needed in their bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your child will most likely hang out solo without consistent adult supervision.

Window Escape Ladder: If you use bedrooms on an upper floor, then you need to put in a window fire ladder. These will help your children get out of their room in case the hallway or downstairs are engulfed in smoke and fire. Remember to rehearse how to employ them one or two times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s interesting to look at a toy chest as a safety item, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever walked on an action figure in your socked feet. A clean floor let your child have a quick retreat during a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Tuscaloosa

The bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety devices make you more responsive if you have an emergency. After all, being startled awake by a loud siren can be confusing.

Home Security 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 phone app. However, the touchscreen is often easier to manage to use when you’re coming out of sleep and finding your bearings.

Personal Charging Station: We use our smartphones for almost everything now GPS, news readers, time wasters, and maybe even phones. However, a dead device in the middle of the night cuts us off from the outside world if during an emergency. So, a an easy-to-use charging station is an essential.

Nightlight/Smart Lights: A plug-in light helps ground you when you’re jolted awake from an alarm or other loud sounds. If you have trouble falling asleep with an outlet light, put in smart bulbs in your bedroom. Then you can have light on-demand with a mobile device or vocal command.
Fireproof Safe: Stash your vital documents like insurance cards, passports, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof safe. This can be a bigger one that camps out out of the way or a smaller handheld lockbox that you can carry on your way out during a fire or break-in.

Temperature Sensor: The issue with a master bedroom is that they tend to run too hot or be cold because they sit far from the thermostat. A temperature sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you should have a comfortable, peaceful sleep at a wonderful climate.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Tuscaloosa

Most safety needs in the basement or garage have to do with your pipes or HVAC system. Discovering issues at the source can stop bigger emergencies later on. So, as you take a look around your garage or basement, take note of these crucial items:

Flood Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Installing a flood alarm in back of your water heater and sump pump can save you from wading into a mess when you step into your basement or garage. It’s much better than sorting through a bunch of soggy storage boxes.

CO Alarm: It’s smart to hang a CO alarm in an area where a natural gas leak can happen. If you employ a gas furnace, you’ll want to install an alarm in the same area as your inbound pipes.
Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector detects a hot water heater leak or a broken pipe, then you will have to cap the primary water pipe quickly. With a remote shutoff valve, you can turn off your water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s nice when you’re on vacation and receive an emergency leak notification on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open leads to all sorts of problems. You can lose a bunch of HVAC energy through that gaping hole, and critters or lurkers can just saunder in. A remote sensor will alert you to a forgotten garage door and allow you to close it with your phone.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your basement or garage is essential if you fret about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these areas can be surprisingly different than your main rooms of the home, so you will want to maintain a close look on them by using your mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Tuscaloosa

Your yard, drive, and front walk are just as crucial to secure as the interior of your home. Try this checklist to create a safe outside:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s at the front door before you open it and welcome guests. Get a visual on packages and review video clips if they are taken.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can place outdoor security cameras to guard against unusual lurkers in your back yard. These cameras come in handy in areas where you might not have a window installed -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.

Window Height Shrubs: Tall bushes can create some solitude, but they also block your line of sight of the outside. Don’t give potential intruders an area to hide. Plus, tall bushes, shrubs or trees against your structure can clog gutters and bring in pests.
ADT Signage: One of the most popular disincentives for home intrusion is telling aspiring burglars that you have a state-of-the-art ADT security system. An ADT yard sign by the stoop and a window sticker will tell ne'er-do-wells that they should shove off to an less prepared target.

Motion Triggered Outside Light Fixtures: Light is the largest deterrent to those who skulk in the shadows. Motion-activated flood lights on your deck, porch, or garage can help scare possible intruders away. Lights also help you see the walk when you get home late at night.

Contact Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You Finish Your Home Safety Checklist for Tuscaloosa

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver non-security devices on your Tuscaloosa home safety checklist, we can discuss a state-of-the-art home security system. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can personalize the ideal system for your home’s needs. Just contact (205) 315-0267 for more information or complete the form below. Or customize your own ADT system with our Security System Designer.