Home Safety Checklist For Augusta

Keeping safe and secure in your house should be your number one concern. But are you overlooking a few big safety components? Look over this home safety checklist for Augusta and find out where your house requires an update.

We give you five whole-house safety items, and then we whittle it down to specific room ideas. Then, phone (706) 397-7051 or fill out the form below for additional information.

Whole Home Safety Checklist for Augusta

While you should employ a room-by-room process for home safety, there are some methods that work for a lot of your rooms. These items can talk to each other through a wireless hub, and oftentimes respond to one another. You might also manage all your home safety devices with a mobile app, like ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: Each one of your entryways should have a sensor that warns your family to a break-in. When your alarm goes off, your monitoring team answers the call and quickly sends emergency personnel.

Smart Lights For Each Room: Of course, you can program your smart bulbs to become more energy-efficient. But they can also help you remain safe during an emergency. Have your downstairs lights flip on when a security alarm goes off to scare off robbers or light your way to a outside area.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Augusta should save you 10%-15% in gas and electric costs. It also can flip on the exhaust fan during a fire.

Monitored Fire Detectors: It’s code that you have a fire detector on every level. You can improve your fire readiness by hanging a monitored fire detector that looks for excessive heat and smoke, and alerts your round-the-clock monitoring agents when it senses a fire.

Smart Locks: Every doorway that utilizes a deadbolt can use a smart lock. Now you may program numbered codes to family and friends and get texts to your phone when they are unlocked. Your doors can even automatically unlock, allowing you to quickly flee the house during a fire or other emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist For Augusta

You’ll hang out most in your family room, so it’s the perfect area to start your home safety renovation. Popular items, like your TV or video games, typically reside in your living room, making it an alluring space for robbers. Begin with installing a motion detector or indoor security camera in there, then try some of these suggestions:

Motion Sensors: By hanging motion sensors, you’ll hear a loud noise anytime they sense suspicious movement within your family room. Look for motion sensors that aren’t set off by pet movements or you’ll get an alert each time your pet roams by for a drink of water.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera gives you an eye on your family room. Watch real-time streams of the area so you can know what’s downstairs from the mobile app. Or speak with your family when they get back from school by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect expensive electronics and stop overtaxing your electric system with a surge protector. For added comfort, set up a smart plug with a surge protector included.
Entertainment Center Secured To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll need to bolt your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to the wall. This is extra important if your family room has carpeting that might make heavy objects extra unstable.
Enhanced Locks For Sliding Doors: If your living room uses a glass door that leads to a deck, patio, or porch, you probably can see that the door lock is usually thin. Use a custom lock, like a cross bar or small locks that secures the door to the top and bottom of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Augusta

The kitchen has room for items that should bring comfort and safety to your house. Some of these things are also easy to add and can be bought from the grocery store:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can come from from a neglected pot or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always have a fire extinguisher at hand for any stove or oven mishaps.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be standard on outlets where there’s nearby water to prevent a deadly shock. That includes the plugs around your sink and kitchen counter. Since 1987, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, try to use a single GFCI for every outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is needed in the kitchen if you use natural gas for the stove and oven. If your gas appliances leak, the CO detector will emit a high-decibel noise and contact your monitoring agent.
Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety issue in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and contamination from raw meat and vegetables. Always keep antiviral wipes or spray to scrub off your area before and after cooking.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The food items in your fridge have to stay at a cold temperature to stay healthy to eat. If you leave the fridge or freezer door open too long, then a constant beep will remind you to shut it securely. Some appliances already have an alarm, others won’t, and you’ll have to buy a refrigerator alarm from online.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Augusta

Just because there’s not a bunch of square footage in your bathroom, you will still have safety concerns. From water problems to medicine care, here are some safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or shower can create extensive water damage. Get alerted early about water problems with a flood detector and save yourself from renovating the entire bathroom.
Textured Shower Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be devastating, causing cuts, bruises, or trips to the hospital. Or avoid these issues with a no-slip bathroom mat for after your bath or shower.

No-slip Bathtub Strips: Likewise, a tub can be a slippery area to stand in. It’s a good idea that every bathtub has some non-slip stickies so your toes have a textured patch to grip.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have young kids or someone with memory complications, you need to take extra attention regarding prescription medicine. Hide away your prescriptions by installing a medicine cabinet with a child-proof lock.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: While installing better outlets in the kitchen, you need to also put in a surge protecting GFCI outlet on every bathroom receptacle. This will cut the electricity if they ever get wet or they experience a harmful surge from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Augusta

Your kid’s bedroom should balance safety with manageability. If their window coverings or other items are safe but hard to use, then your child may perform risky methods -- like scale a chest of drawers -- to use them. Here are some straightforward, yet safe, ideas:

No Cord Window Coverings: Safety professionals have designated corded window treatments a secret danger for both children and pets. Put in motorized blinds or shades that kids can easily open and close through a remote control. Or even better, pair your motorized treatments to your ADT smart hub so they open on a schedule at dawn, and go down in the evening for extra privacy.

Tableside Security Camera: An indoor security camera perched on your child’s desk can act like an HD baby monitor that you can watch with a mobile device. And when they need your help, they can hit the intercom talk feature that comes with the camera.

Outlet Covers: While each outlet should use covers on them when you have little children, this is especially important in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your children will most likely hang out solo without consistent adult supervision.

Window Safety Ladder: If you have bedrooms on an upper level, then you need to put in a window fire ladder. These will help a young one get out of their room even if the hallway or ground floor are on fire. Just remember to practice how to use them one or two times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Shelves: It’s interesting to view a toy chest as a safety device, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever stepped on a Lego in your stocking feet. A uncluttered floor gives your child a quick retreat during an emergency.

Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Augusta

The master bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety components give you peace of mind if you have an emergency. After all, being wrenched awake by a wailing alarm can be confusing.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your dresser lets you see what’s happening without leaving your bed. You could always use your ADT phone app. However, the HD touchscreen may be faster to use when you’re coming out of sleep and disoriented.

Personal Charging Stand: We rely on our smartphones for so many things now alarm clocks, news readers, social media, and maybe even phones. But, an uncharged cell will cut us off from the outside world if during an emergency. To make sure your phone always works, a charging cord or station is an important part of your nightstand.

Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A small light can calm you when you’re startled awake from a siren or other loud noises. If you can’t fall asleep with a nightlight, install a smart bulb in your fixtures. Then you can get light simply with a mobile device or voice command.
Fireproof Safe: Store your important paperwork like insurance cards, stock certificates, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof lockbox. This can be a large one that sits in your closet or a smaller handheld safe that you can grab as you escape during a fire or break-in.

Heat Sensor: The drawback with most bedrooms is that they can be too warm or be cold because they are far from the thermostat. A temperature sensor can talk to your smart thermostat so you can have a comfortable, restful sleep at the perfect temperature.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Augusta

Most safety problems in the garage or basement deal with your pipes or heating system. Discovering hazards before they start can prevent bigger disasters later on. So, as you look around your basement or garage, take note of these critical items:

Water Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood sensor in back of your water heater and sump pump drain can prevent you from wading into a mess when you walk into your basement or garage. Do you really want to spend your day drying the floor?

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s beneficial to install a CO detector in areas where a CO leak can happen. If you use gas heating, try to put a detector in the same area as your inbound pipes.
Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector senses a plumbing leak or a busted pipe, then you need to cut off the primary water pipe at once. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s nice when you’re on vacation and receive a water leak notification on your mobile device.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open brings about all sorts of problems. You can lose a bunch of HVAC energy through that large opening, and critters or lurkers can just walk in. A remote sensor will notify you about a neglected garage door and lets you lower it remotely.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your garage or basement is handy if you worry about frozen pipes. The temperature in these rooms can be wildly different than the main part of the house, so you may want to have a closer eye on the temperature by using your mobile app.

Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for Augusta

Your yard, driveway, and front step are just as important to make safe as the rest of your home. Use this checklist to defend your perimeter:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s arrived at the door before you open it and welcome guests. View package deliveries and review video clips if they are stolen.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can install outdoor cameras to alert you to suspicious lurkers in your back yard. These devices are especially useful in places where you might not have a window installed -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.

Window Height Shrubbery: Tall foliage can create some solitude, but they also hinder your view of the yard. Don’t provide potential thieves a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall shrubs or foliage too close to your home can obstruct gutters and summon ants and termites.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the most popular disincentives for a break-in is alerting potential rogues that you use an updated security system. An ADT sign by the front door and a window sticker will tell ne'er-do-wells that they should move on to an unprotected house.

Motion Triggered Flood Lighting: Light is the biggest enemy to people who skulk in the shadows. Motion-triggered lights on your porch, garage, or deck can frighten lurkers away. Flood lights also help you work the locks when you come to the house late at night.

Contact Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Augusta

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with every item on your Augusta home safety checklist, we can discuss a customized security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can install the best system for your family’s needs. Simply contact (706) 397-7051 to get started or send in the form below. Or personalize your own system with our Security System Designer.