Home Safety Checklist For Louisville
Keeping safe in your home should be your largest responsibility. But are you missing one or two useful safety items? Look over this home safety checklist for Louisville and find out where your house can use some work.
This guide starts with some whole-home safety items, and then we break it down room-by-room. Then, call (502) 251-3133 or fill out the form below to get your house safe and secure.
General Home Safety Checklist for Louisville
While you will want to take a individual room method for home safety in Louisville, there are a few things that are good for your entire house. These components can link together through a smart hub, and often can react to other components. You can also control all your home safety equipment through a mobile app, such as ADT Control:
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Monitored Home Security System: All your windows and doors should use a sensor that alerts your family to intrusion. When the alarm triggers, your monitoring team responds to the alert and immediately contacts the police or fire department.
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Smart Lighting For Each Room: Sure, you can schedule your smart lighting so your home is more efficient. But smart lights can also allow you to stay safe during an emergency. Have your downstairs lights come on when a sensor goes off to shoo off intruders or light a path to a safe location.
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Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Louisville could save you up to 15% in gas and electric costs. It also can flip on your exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.
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Monitored Smoke Detectors: It’s code that you should have a fire alarm on each floor. You can improve your fire preparedness by utilizing a monitored fire detector that looks for both heat and smoke, and pings your 24-hour monitoring experts when it detects a fire.
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Smart Locks: Every doorway that uses a keyed lock can be made safer with a smart door lock. Now you can program numbered codes to family and friends and receive alerts to your smartphone when the locks are unlocked. Your locks can even automatically unlock, letting you quickly get out during a fire or other emergency.
Family Room Safety Checklist For Louisville
You’ll spend a lot of time in your family room, so it can be the most reasonable place to start making your home more secure. Electronics, like a TV or stereo system, usually reside in your family room, making it a popular area for robbers. Start with installing a motion detector or indoor camera in there, then continue on with the following suggestions:
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Motion Detectors: By putting in motion detectors, you’ll hear a shrieking siren whenever they detect unexpected movement within your family room. You’ll want motion sensors that aren’t set off by pets or you’ll get a tripped alarm each time your pet comes in for a drink of water.
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Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera puts an eye on your living room. Get real-time streams of everything so you can see what’s happening through the mobile app. Or chat with your family when they arrive home from playing with the two-way talk feature.
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Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Make sure you protect all your electronics and stop overtaxing your circuits with a surge protector. For extra energy-efficiency, install a smart plug with a surge protector included.
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Entertainment Center Secured To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll need to attach your bookshelves and entertainment center to your wall. This is especially important if your family room uses carpeting that can make furniture extra wobbly.
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Enhanced Locks For Glass Doors: If your family room has a glass door that leads to a deck, patio, or porch, you already get that the door lock is pretty thin. Install a special lock, like a metal bar or locks that secures the door to the bottom and top of the frame.
Kitchen Safety Checklist For Louisville
Your kitchen has room for items that can provide comfort and safety to your house. Some of these things should be easy to add and can be purchased from the Target or Walmart:
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Fire Extinguisher: A fire can spring up from a neglected skillet or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always keep a fire extinguisher at hand for any stove or oven mishaps.
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GFCI Box On Every Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be installed everywhere they’re by running water to lessen the chance of an electric shock. That includes the plug outlets close to your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been standard to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But all your plugs will go if one outlet sees a surge, so you’re going to want to use a single GFCI per outlet.
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Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A CO detector is advised for spaces that have a gas stove and oven. If your gas appliances leak, the CO detector will play a high-decibel siren and contact your monitoring agent.
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Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The largest safety hazard in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and contamination from uncooked meat and other foods. Always keep disinfectant wipes or an antibacterial spray to clean your area when making a meal.
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Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The food items in your fridge need to remain at a constant temperature to be healthy to consume. If you accidently leave the refrigerator door ajar, then a small beep will tell you to check the seal. Some fridges already have a pre-installed alarm, older models do not, and you’ll have to buy a refrigerator alarm from online.
Bathroom Safety Checklist For Louisville
Just because there’s not a bunch of space in your bathroom, you will still have safety concerns. From flood detectors to medicine care, here are some safety tips for your bathroom:
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Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or shower can lead to extensive water damage. Find out early about water problems with a flood detector before they generate hundreds of dollars in damage.
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Textured Bathroom Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be a painful occurrence, causing pulled muscles, gashed heads, or sprained ankles. Or avoid these hazards with a non-slip bathroom mat for while you towel off.
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Textured Bathtub Strips: Likewise, a tub basin can be a slick place to stand in. Make sure each tub has some non-slip stickies so your toes have a bumpy patch to gain traction.
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Medicine Door Latch: If you have young toddlers or someone with memory lapses, you should take extra care regarding prescription medicine. Safeguard your prescriptions by getting a medicine cabinet with a child-proof lock.
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Circuit Interrupter Outlet: While installing better outlets in the kitchen, you should also use a surge protecting circuit interrupter outlet on each bathroom receptacle. This will stop the flow of the electricity if water enters the outlet or you have a sudden jolt from a hair dryer or curling iron.
Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Louisville
Your child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with manageability. If their window shades or other things are safe but tricky to manage, then your kids may get around the device with unsafe activities -- like shimmying up a bookshelf -- to use them. Try these straightforward, and safe, ideas:
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Cord-Free Window Treatments: Safety experts have long called cords from shades and blinds an unsuspecting problem for both children and pets. Put in motorized blinds or shades that you can easily control with a remote. Or even better, pair your motorized treatments to your ADT security system so they can raise on a schedule at dawn, and close at bedtime for added darkness.
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Tableside Security Camera: A camera perched on your child’s dresser can double as an HD baby monitor that you can see from a mobile device. And if they want you, they can use the two-way talk button included on the camera.
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Outlet Covers: While every outlet should have protective covers on them to protect your young children, this is doubly needed in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your toddler will most likely be by themselves without constant additional supervision.
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Window Fire Ladder: If you have bedrooms on above the first level, then you will want to install a window escape ladder. These can help a young one get out of their room when the stairway or ground floor are blocked off with fire. Just remember to go over how to employ the ladder one or two times a year.
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Toy Chest Or Low Bookshelves: It’s weird to think about a toy chest as a safety component, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever stepped on a Lego in your stocking feet. A clean floor let your child have a quick retreat if there’s a safety or security event.
Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Louisville
Your main bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety items give you peace of mind when there's an emergency event. After all, being jerked awake by a high-decibel siren can be confusing.
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Smart Hub Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your bedside table lets you see what’s going on without jumping out of bed. You could always turn on your ADT mobile app. However, the large touchscreen is often easier to use to use when you’re bleary-eyed and confused.
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Phone Charging Station: We depend on our smartphones for so much now GPS, internet searches, time wasters, and maybe even phones. The only problem is that an uncharged device will cut us off from the outside world if during an emergency. To make sure your phone always works, a charging station or cord is an important part of your nightstand.
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Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A small light can be a beacon when you’re jolted awake from an alarm or other loud noises. If you have trouble falling asleep with a nightlight, use smart lights in your fixtures. Then you can control light on-demand with a button push or voice command.
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Fireproof Lockbox: Keep your vital documents like social security cards, medical information, or banking information in a fireproof lockbox. Your safe can be a bigger one that camps out in your closet or a slender portable lockbox that you can snatch as you escape during a fire or break-in.
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Heat Sensor: The issue with most bedrooms is that they tend to feel too hot or be chilly since they are located far away from the thermostat. A temperature sensor will talk to your smart thermostat so you can have a comfortable, restful sleep at the perfect climate.
Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Louisville
Most safety issues in the basement or garage have to do with your pipes or furnace. Seeing hazards before they start can prevent more devastating emergencies in the future. So, as you take a look around your basement or garage, check over these crucial items:
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Water Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood alarm next to your water heater and sump pump can stop you from discovering a mess when you go into your basement or garage. It’s much better than sifting through a bunch of soggy storage boxes.
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Carbon Monoxide Alarm: It’s smart to install a carbon monoxide alarm in areas where a gas leak can occur. If you have gas heat, you’ll want to put a detector in the same area as your unit.
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WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your water detector finds a plumbing leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to shut off the primary water valve at once. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from any mobile device. That’s nice when you’re out of town and receive a flood sensor notification on your phone.
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Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door up leads to all sorts of headaches. You can waste heat through that gaping hole, and all sorts of animals or intruders can just saunder in. A remote sensor will notify you about a forgotten garage door and lets you lower it remotely.
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Temperature Sensor: A heat alarm in your basement or garage is essential if you wonder about frozen pipes. The heat in these areas can be drastically different than the rest of the house, so you will want to maintain a closer eye on the temperature by using the ADT mobile app.
Outside Safety Checklist for Louisville
Your front yard, drive, and front porch are just as crucial to make safe as the interior of your house. Use this checklist to make your outside safe:
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Doorbell Camera: See who’s at the door before you answer it and welcome visitors. View package deliveries and record video clips if they are stolen.
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Outdoor Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to alert you to suspicious movement in your yard. These cameras come in handy in places where you may not have a window -- like around a cellar or by the garage door.
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Low Shrubs: Overgrown foliage can offer some privacy, but they also obscure your line of sight of the yard. Don’t provide potential burglars a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall shrubs or trees against your home can clog gutters and summon pests.
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ADT Yard Signs: One of the largest deterrents for a thief is advertising to potential burglars that you own a monitored home security system. An ADT yard stick by the stoop and a window cling will show lurkers that they should move on to an easier score.
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Motion Activated Outside Lights: Light is the best deterrent to those who sneak around in the dark. Motion-activated flood lights on your deck, patio, or garage can frighten possible intruders away. Lights also help you see the walk when you come to the house late after work.
Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You Finish Your Home Safety Checklist for Louisville
While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install each household item on your Louisville home safety checklist, we can offer a powerful home security. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can personalize the best system for your home’s needs. Simply contact (502) 251-3133 and talk to a professional or complete the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.