Home Safety Checklist For Lawrence

Keeping safe in your home should be your topmost priority. But are you overlooking one or two useful safety components? Look over this home safety checklist for Lawrence and discover where your house can use an update.

We give you some whole-house safety ideas, and then we break it down room-by-room. Then, call (785) 268-2728 or fill out the form below to speak to a security expert.

General Home Safety Checklist for Lawrence

While you should use a room-to-room method for home safety, there are some items that work for the entire house approach. These items can link to each other through a touchscreen hub, and oftentimes work off other components. You can also control each of your home safety equipment using a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your doors and windows should employ a sensor that notifies you to forced entry. When the alarm trips, your monitoring team answers the alert and quickly calls the police or fire department.

Smart Bulbs For Every Major Room: Of course, you can schedule your smart lighting so your home is more efficient. But they can also help you stay safe throughout an emergency. Have your smart bulbs flash on when a sensor triggers to scare off intruders or light your way to a secure place.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Lawrence can save you between 10%-15% in energy spending. Also, it can turn on your exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: It’s code that you have a fire detector on each level of your house. You can increase your fire game by hanging a monitored fire detector that senses excessive heat and smoke, and alerts your 24-hour monitoring team when it detects a fire.

Smart Locks: Every door that needs a deadbolt can upgrade to a smart door lock. Now you may assign numbered codes to family and friends and receive texts to your smartphone when your locks are unlocked. Your smart lock can even automatically turn off, helping you to quickly leave during an emergency.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Lawrence

You’ll spend a lot of time in the living room, so it can be the most reasonable area to start making your house a safer place. Electronics, like your TV or stereo system, usually reside in your living room, making it an alluring room for burglars. Begin with hanging a motion sensor or indoor camera by the doorway, then continue on with all these ideas:

Motion Detectors: By putting in motion sensors, you’ll get a shrieking siren anytime they sense unusual motion in your family room. The best devices are motion detectors that ignore pets or you’ll have your sirens go off each time your cat passes through for a bite of food.
Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera offers an eye on your living room. View constant feeds of the area so you can find out what’s going on from the mobile app. Or talk with family members in the room with the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Safeguard expensive electronics and quit overburdening your circuits with a surge protector. For extra comfort, use a smart plug with a surge protector built-in.
Heavy Furniture Secured To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll want to bolt your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to the wall. This is especially crucial if your family room has rugs or carpet that could make heavy objects extra unstable.
Enhanced Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your family room has a glass door that leads to a backyard, deck, or outside porch, you probably can see that the door lock is usually worthless. Install an enhanced lock, like a bottom bar or locks that bolt to the bottom and top of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Lawrence

The kitchen has room for items that can bring safety and security to your house. Many of these items should be easy to add and can be purchased from the Target or Walmart:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can happen from an unwatched pot or an errant grease splatter. Always have a fire extinguisher in close reach for any stove or oven emergencies.
GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be used anywhere they’re by water to ward off a deadly shock. That includes the plugs by your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per dedicated circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, try to use a separate GFCI for every outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is needed in the kitchen if you employ natural gas for the stove and oven. If your gas lines malfunction, the CO detector will play a high-decibel siren and call your monitoring agent.
Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety issue in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and cross-contamination from uncooked meat and dairy. Always have antiviral wipes or an antibacterial spray to sanitize your counters after cooking.
Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in the refrigerator have to stay at a chilly temperature to be healthy to consume. If you leave the fridge or freezer door open too long, then an alarm beep will remind you to check the seal. Some refrigerators come with a pre-installed alarm, others do not, and you’ll have to pick up an external alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Lawrence

Just because you don’t a lot of square footage in your bathroom, you will still have safety concerns. From water problems to electric safety, here are a few safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking sink or shower can cause a whole lot of damage. Get alerted early about pooling water with a flood detector and save yourself from reflooring the entire bathroom.
Non-slip Bathroom Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be devastating, causing bumps, bruises, or sprained ankles. You can avoid these hazards with a textured bathroom mat for after your bath or shower.

No-slip Bathtub Stickies: Like a tiled floor, a tub can be a slick area to be on. Make sure every has some textured stickers so your feet and toes have a textured patch to grip.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have little kids or a family member with memory complications, you should take additional attention regarding prescription medicine. Safeguard your pills and syrups by getting a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Similarly to the kitchen, you should also use a surge protecting GFCI outlet on every bathroom receptacle. This will stop the flow of the electric current if water splashes on them or you have a sudden jolt from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Lawrence

A child’s bedroom should balance safety with accessibility. If their window coverings or other things are safe but difficult to manage, then your child may try risky activities -- like shimmying up a chest of drawers -- to use them. Here are 5 easy, yet safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Coverings: Safety experts have long called corded window treatments a secret danger for both children and pets. Use motorized blinds or shades that you can easily manage through a remote. Or go state-of-the-art and link your motorized coverings to your ADT security system so they open automatically at dawn, and close at bedtime for an easier sleep.

Indoor Security Camera: A camera sitting on your toddler’s desk can behave as a baby monitor that you can view with a mobile device. And when they want you, they can push the 2-way talk button that comes with the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While each outlet should use covers on them to protect your little children, this is doubly important in their bedroom. It’s the main place in your house where your child will most likely be by themselves without constant parental supervision.

Window Escape Ladder: If you have bedrooms on above the first floor, then you will want to put in a window fire ladder. These should help a young one leave the house when the stairway or lower levels are on fire. Make sure to rehearse how to use the ladder one or two times a year.

Toy Chest Or Low Bookshelves: It’s strange to think about a toy chest as a safety device, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever tramped on an action figure in your socked feet. A clean floor let your child have a quick way out if there’s an emergency.

Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Lawrence

Your main bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety components make you more responsive when you experience an emergency. After all, being jerked awake by a wailing buzzer can be confusing.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your bedside table gives you a sense of what’s happening without jumping out of bed. You could alternatively use your ADT smartphone app. However, the HD touchscreen may be faster to use when you’re bleary-eyed and disoriented.

Device Charging Area: We rely on our phones for so much now GPS, internet searches, time wasters, and --legend has it-- even phones. The only problem is that an uncharged phone in the middle of the night cuts us off from reaching help if there’s a problem. To make sure your phone always works, a an easy-to-use charging station becomes should be used nightly.

Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A plug-in light can calm you when you’re jolted awake from an alarm or unexpected noises. If you won’t drift off to sleep with a nightlight, use smart bulbs in your fixtures. Then you can control light anytime with a mobile device or voice direction.
Fireproof Lockbox: Stash your essential papers like social security cards, passports, or banking information in a fireproof lockbox. Your safe can be a large one that camps out in a corner or a smaller portable lockbox that you can carry as you escape during an emergency event.

Temperature Sensor: The drawback with bedrooms is that they tend to run too stuffy or be chilly because they are located far from the thermostat. A temperature sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you can have a pleasant, relaxing sleep at just the right temperature.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Lawrence

Most safety issues in the basement or garage deal with your water or furnace. Seeing problems early can stop bigger disasters later on. So, as you walk around your storage areas, check over these safety items:

Flood Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood sensor next to your water heater and sump pump drain can prevent you from discovering a mess when you go into your garage or basement. Do you really want to spend your weekend bailing out water?

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s nice to hang a carbon monoxide detector in areas where a CO leak can happen. If you have gas heat, you’ll want to hang a detector in the same area as your HVAC unit.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your water sensor senses a hot water leak or a burst pipe, then you will want to cut off the primary water pipe immediately. With a remote shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from any mobile device. That’s perfect when you’re on vacation and see an emergency leak text on your mobile device.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open brings about all types of issues. You can waste heat through that open door, and rodents or thieves can just saunder in. A remote sensor will text you about an open garage door and allow you to close it through the app.
Temperature Sensor: A heat sensor in your basement or garage is essential if you worry about frozen pipes. The heat in these rooms can be surprisingly different than your main rooms of the home, so you will want to maintain a constant look on the temperature by using your mobile app.

Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for Lawrence

Your yard, drive, and front walk are just as important to secure as the inside of your house. Try the items on this checklist to create a safe outside:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s arrived at the front door before you open it and welcome guests. Get a visual on package deliveries and look at video clips if they are stolen.

Outdoor Camera: You can install outdoor security cameras to alert you to suspicious movement in your back yard. These security cameras are nice in areas where you may not have a window -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.

Window Height Shrubs: Tall shrubs can offer some solitude, but they also block your line of sight of the yard. Don’t give potential intruders an area to hide. Plus, large bushes or foliage around your structure can jam up gutters and invite ants and termites.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the biggest deterrents for a break-in is advertising to potential intruders that you have a monitored security system. An ADT yard stick by the front door and a window sticker will show ne'er-do-wells that they might want to move on to an less prepared house.

Motion Controlled Outside Lights: Light is the greatest obstacle to people who lurk in the shadows. Motion-triggered flood lights on your deck, patio, or garage can help scare possible intruders away. Lights also help you get inside when you arrive back home late at night.

Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You Finish Your Home Safety Checklist for Lawrence

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with every item on your Lawrence home safety checklist, we can install a state-of-the-art home security. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can install the ideal system for your home’s needs. Just contact (785) 268-2728 to get started or complete the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.