Being safe in your home should be your number one priority. But are you missing some key safety components? Take this home safety checklist for Dover and discover where your living space can use greater attention.
This guide starts with a few whole-house safety ideas, and then we whittle it down on a room level. Then, phone (302) 238-1722 or send in the form below to get your home set up.
Whole Home Safety Checklist for Dover
While you will want to take a individual room method for home safety in Dover, there are a few items that work for the entire house approach. These devices can sync together through a wireless hub, and oftentimes react to other things. You can also control every one of your home safety equipment using a mobile security app, such as ADT Control:
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Smart Lights For Every Major Room: Of course, you can set your smart bulbs so your house is more eco-conscience. But smart lights can also allow you to remain safe throughout an emergency. Have your smart bulbs flash on when a sensor triggers to shoo off robbers or illuminate your way to a safe place.
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Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you should have a fire alarm on every floor. You can increase your fire readiness by installing a monitored fire alarm that looks for unusual heat and smoke, and pings your 24-hour monitoring experts when it senses a fire.
Family Room Safety Checklist For Dover
You’ll hang out most in your living room, so it may be the best area to start making your house safer. Highly sought after items, like a big screen or video games, probably reside in your family room, making it a tempting room for robbers. Begin with placing a motion detector or indoor camera by the doorway, then continue on with the following ideas:
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Motion Sensors: By hanging motion sensors, you’ll hear a loud alarm anytime they detect unexpected movement in your living room. Look for motion sensors that ignore pet movements or you’ll see a tripped alarm every time your dog passes through for a drink of water.
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Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera gives you a constant watch on your family room. Watch constant streams of everything so you can see what’s happening from the mobile app. Or speak with your kids in the living room with the two-way talk feature.
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Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Make sure you protect expensive electronics and quit overtaxing your outlets with a surge protector. For added comfort, set up a smart plug with a surge protector built-in.
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Furniture Secured To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll need to bolt your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to your wall. This is extra crucial if your family room has carpet that could make objects extra wobbly.
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Enhanced Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your family room has a sliding glass door that leads to a deck, patio, or outside porch, you already get that the door lock is usually thin. Use a custom lock, like a metal bar or small locks that secures the door to the bottom and top of the opening.
Kitchen Safety Checklist For Dover
The kitchen has room for items that can add safety and security to your house. Some of these items are also simple to add and should be found in the grocery store:
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Fire Extinguisher: Fire can happen from a neglected pot or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always store a fire extinguisher in close reach for any stove or oven emergencies.
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Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be installed on outlets where they’re by running water to lessen the chance of electrocution. That includes the plug outlets around your sink and kitchen counter. Since 1987, it’s been standard to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, you’ll want to have a single GFCI for every outlet.
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Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is handy in the kitchen if you use natural gas for the stove and oven. If your gas appliances malfunction, the carbon monoxide detector will emit a loud, buzzing siren and call your monitoring professional.
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Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The largest safety problem in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and protein that comes with uncooked meat and other foods. Always keep antiviral wipes or spray to clean your surfaces after preparing food.
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Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The food items in the fridge have to stay at a chilly temperature to stay safe to eat. If you accidently leave the fridge or freezer door ajar, then a small beep will tell you to close the door. Some refrigerators already have a pre-installed alarm, older models won’t, and you’ll have to pick up a fridge alarm from the hardware store.
Bathroom Safety Checklist For Dover
Just because you may not have a bunch of square footage in your bathroom, you will still have safety issues. From flood detectors to medicine care, here are a few safety ideas for your bathroom:
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Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or bathtub can cause a whole lot of water damage. Discover leaks early with a flood detector and save yourself from reflooring the entire bathroom.
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Non-slip Shower Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing pulled muscles, gashed heads, or sprained ankles. Make sure you avoid these issues with a textured bathroom mat for your wet feet.
Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Dover
A child’s bedroom should pair safety with simplicity. If their window treatments or other things are safe but difficult to manage, then your child may get around the device with unsafe activities -- like scale a dresser -- to touch them. Here are some simple, and safe, ideas:
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Cordless Window Treatments: Safety professionals have long called window treatment cords a secret hazard for kids and pets. Put in motorized treatments that kids can easily manage through a remote. Or even better, pair your shades to your ADT security system so they rise without anyone’s help at dawn, and go down at bedtime for added darkness.
Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Dover
The main bedroom should be a refuge, so let your safety devices give you peace of mind when you have an emergency event. After all, being startled awake by a high-decibel siren can be confusing.
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Phone Charging Area: We rely on our smartphones for so many things now alarm clocks, news readers, time wasters, and sometimes even phones. The only problem is that a depleted cell will cut us off from the outside world if there’s a problem. To keep it nice and ready, a charging station or cord becomes an essential.
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Nightlight/Smart Lights: A small light can be a beacon when you’re startled awake from a fire alarm or unexpected sounds. If you have trouble falling asleep with a small nightlight, use smart bulbs in your fixtures. Then you can get light simply with a button push or voice direction.
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Fireproof Safe: Store your important paperwork like social security cards, stock certificates, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof lockbox. This can be a large one that is located out of the way or a smaller handheld safe that you can snatch when you leave during an emergency event.
Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Dover
Most safety needs in the garage or basement are with your water heater or heating system. Seeing problems at the source can stave away larger disasters later on. So, as you take a look around your storage areas, check over these crucial items:
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CO Alarm: It’s smart to have a CO detector in areas where a CO leak can occur. If you employ a gas furnace, try to put a detector in the same room as your inbound pipes.
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WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector senses a plumbing leak or a busted pipe, then you will have to shut off the primary water pipe immediately. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can block water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re visiting relatives and receive a flood sensor alert on your smartphone.
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Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door up brings about all sorts of headaches. You can lose heat or air through that large opening, and critters or intruders can just walk in. A sensor will text you about an open garage door and lets you close it through the app.
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Temperature Sensor: A heat alarm in your basement or garage is handy if you wonder about freezing pipes. The temperature in these rooms can be wildly different than the main part of the home, so you will need to keep a constant look on the temperature through your mobile app.
Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Dover
Your front yard, driveway, and front step are just as important to make safe as the interior of your home. Try this checklist to create a safe outside:
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Window Height Shrubbery: Overgrown foliage can create some serenity, but they also hinder you seeing into the yard and curb. Don’t provide potential intruders a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall shrubs or foliage around your home can clog gutters and bring in ants and termites.
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ADT Yard Signs: One of the most popular discouragements for a break-in is advertising to would-be intruders that you use a monitored ADT security system. An ADT yard stick by the stoop and a window sticker will tell lurkers that they should keep walking to an less prepared target.
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Motion Controlled Porch Lighting: Light is the biggest enemy to those who lurk in the unlit places. Motion-activated flood lights on your deck, patio, or garage can help scare possible intruders away. Lights also help you work the locks when you arrive to the house late at night.
Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You With Your Home Safety Checklist for Dover
While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver every item on your Dover home safety checklist, we can bring you a powerful security system. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can customize the ideal system for your home’s needs. Just phone (302) 238-1722 to get started or send in the form below. Or customize your own system with our Security System Designer.