Home Safety Checklist For Appleton

Staying safe in your residence should be your topmost priority. But are you forgetting some big safety components? Look over this home safety checklist for Appleton and see where your home can use greater attention.

This guide starts with some whole-home safety ideas, and then we whittle it down room-by-room. Then, you can call (920) 309-5628 or complete the form below to talk to a security expert.

Essential Home Safety Checklist for Appleton

While you will want to use a room-to-room process for home safety, there are some methods that work for all of your rooms. These components can talk with one another through a touchscreen hub, and can even react to other things. You can also control every one of your home safety devices using a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Security System: All your entryways should have a sensor that notifies you to forced entry. After the alarm trips, your monitoring center answers the alert and quickly contacts emergency personnel.

Smart Bulbs For Most Rooms: Sure, you can set your smart bulbs to make your home more efficient. But smart lights can also help you stay safe throughout an emergency. Make your smart bulbs flip on when a security alarm triggers to frighten off robbers or brighten a path to a secure area.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Appleton should save you 10%-15% in energy spending. Also, it can turn on your exhaust fan during a fire.

Monitored Fire Detectors: At the very least, you need to have a smoke detector on each level of your house. You can increase your fire readiness by utilizing a monitored fire alarm that looks for excessive smoke and heat, and pings your 24/7 monitoring agents when it senses a fire.

Smart Locks: Every door that uses a deadbolt can use a smart lock. Now you may preset key codes to family and friends and get alerts to your smartphone when the locks are used. Your doors can even automatically unlock, letting you quickly leave when you have an emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist For Appleton

You’ll hang out most in the family room, so it’s the most reasonable place to start making your house safer. Popular items, like your TV or video games, usually reside in your living room, making it an alluring area for burglars. Start with placing a motion detector or indoor security camera by the doorway, then try some of these suggestions:

Motion Detectors: By hanging motion detectors, you’ll hear a high-decibel alarm whenever they sense suspicious motion in your family room. You’ll want motion detectors that ignore a dog or cat or you’ll have your sirens go off every time your dog roams by for a bite of food.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts a visual on your living room. Get real-time feeds of the area so you can know what’s downstairs through the mobile app. Or talk with your kids in the room with the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect expensive electronics and stop overloading your circuits with a surge protector. For extra energy-efficiency, set up a smart plug with a surge protector in the unit.
Furniture Attached To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll want to attach your bookshelves and entertainment center to a wall. This is extra crucial if your family room uses carpeting that might make heavy objects extra wobbly.
Special Locks For Sliding Doors: If your living room uses a sliding glass door that slides out to a patio, deck, or screened-in porch, you already get that the door lock is usually thin. Install a custom lock, like a metal bar or small locks that are located on the bottom and top of the opening.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Appleton

The kitchen has plenty of items that can bring comfort and safety to your home. Most of these things are also a snap to add and should be purchased from the Target or Walmart:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can come from from an overfilled frying pan or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always have a fire extinguisher at the ready for any stove or oven mishaps.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be installed everywhere they’re close to water to prevent a deadly shock. That includes the outlets by your kitchen counter and sink. Since 1987, it’s been standard to have one GFCI per circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, try to use a single GFCI per outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is recommended for spaces that employ a gas stove and oven. If your gas lines spring a leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a loud, buzzing noise and contact your monitoring agent.
Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety hazard in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and cross-contamination from blood from meat and other foods. Always keep disinfectant wipes or spray to clean your surfaces after preparing food.
Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in your fridge should remain at a constant temperature to stay healthy to use. If you accidently leave the fridge or freezer door ajar, then an alarm beep will tell you to shut it securely. Some fridges already have a pre-installed alarm, older models won’t, and you’ll have to buy a fridge alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Appleton

Just because there’s not a bunch of space in your bathroom doesn’t mean that there aren’t safety concerns. From water problems to electric safety, here are five safety improvements for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking sink or shower can cause an expensive amount of damage. Discover a leak with a flood detector and save yourself from renovating the whole bathroom.
No-slip Bathroom Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be a painful occurrence, causing bumps, gashed heads, or sprained ankles. Or avoid these problems with a no-slip bathroom mat for after your bath or shower.

Textured Bathtub Strips: Like a tiled floor, a tub basin can be a slick surface to stand in. It’s a good idea that every has some textured stickers so your feet have a bumpy patch to gain traction.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have curious children or a family member with memory difficulties, you have to take additional attention regarding medicine. Safeguard your prescriptions by getting a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

GFCI Circuits: While installing better outlets in the kitchen, you should also install a grounded GFCI outlet on each bathroom circuit. This will stop the flow of the electric current if water enters the outlet or they experience a sudden surge from an electric razor or hair dryer.

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Appleton

A child’s bedroom should pair safety with simplicity. If their window treatments or other items are safe but hard to operate, then your kids may get around the device with unsafe activities -- like climb a bookshelf -- to open them. Here are 5 simple, and safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Treatments: Safety professionals have identified cords from shades and blinds a hidden danger for kids and pets. Install motorized shades that your child can easily manage through a remote. Or better yet, pair your motorized treatments to your security system so they open without anyone’s help when it’s time to get up, and lower at bedtime for added darkness.

Tableside Security Camera: A security camera sitting on your toddler’s dresser can double as a baby monitor that you can see from a mobile device. And if they want something, they can hit the intercom talk feature that comes with the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While each outlet should have covers on them for your young children, this is doubly important in a child’s bedroom. It’s the main place in your house where your children will most likely hang out alone without adult supervision.

Window Escape Ladder: If you have bedrooms on an upper level, then you will want to install a window safety ladder. These can let a child escape in case the hallway or lower levels are blocked off with fire. Just remember to rehearse how to use them a few times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s interesting to view a toy box as a safety component, but you’ll get it if you’ve ever walked on an action figure in your socked feet. A clutter-free floor let your child have a quick retreat if there’s an emergency.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Appleton

The master bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety components make you more responsive when there's an emergency. After all, being jerked awake by a high-decibel siren can be quite a shock.

Home Security Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your dresser gives you a sense of what’s going on without getting out of bed. You could alternatively log into your ADT mobile app. However, the touchscreen can be better to use when you’re bleary-eyed and confused.

Phone Charging Stand: We depend on our phones for so much now alarm clocks, web browsers, games, and maybe even phones. But, a dead cell will cut us off from communications if there’s a problem. To make sure your phone always works, a an easy-to-use charging station becomes should be used nightly.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A tiny light helps ground you when you’re bolted awake from an alarm or other noises. If you won’t drift off to sleep with an outlet light, use smart bulbs in your bedroom and hall. Then you can get light on-demand with a mobile device or voice direction.
Fireproof Lockbox: Stash your important documents like birth certificates, medical information, or a bankbook in a fireproof safe. Your lockbox can be a big one that sits in a corner or a smaller handheld lockbox that you can carry on your way out during an emergency event.

Heat Sensor: The problem with a master bedroom is that they tend to feel too warm or be frigid because they are located across the house from the thermostat. A heat sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you will have a nice, restful sleep at the perfect temperature.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Appleton

Most safety issues in the garage or basement deal with your pipes or heating system. Seeing problems before they start can stave away larger problems in the future. So, as you take a look around your storage areas, take note of these safety items:

Flood Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood sensor next to your water heater or sump pump can prevent you from discovering a pond when you walk into your garage or basement. The last you need is to lose the weekend drying your floor and sorting through all those soggy boxes.

CO Detector: It’s beneficial to have a CO detector in a place where a gas leak can spring up. If you use a gas furnace, try to put a detector in the same room as your HVAC unit.
Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector finds a hot water heater leak or a burst pipe, then you need to shut off the main water line quickly. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can block water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re visiting relatives and receive a flood sensor text on your smartphone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open causes all sorts of headaches. You can lose a bunch of heat through that large opening, and all sorts of animals or intruders can just walk in. A sensor will notify you about an open garage door and lets you close it with your phone.
Heat Sensor: A temperature alarm in your basement or garage is handy if you worry about frozen pipes. The temperature in these rooms can be drastically different than the rest of the house, so you may need to maintain a close look on them by using your security mobile app.

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Appleton

Your front yard, driveway, and front step are just as crucial to secure as the inside of your home. Use this checklist to make your outside safe:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s knocking on the front door before you answer it and welcome visitors. View deliveries and review video clips if they are stolen.

Outdoor Camera: You can install outdoor cameras to guard against late night lurkers in your back yard. These cameras come in handy in places where you might not have a window installed -- like a side yard or by the driveway.

Low Shrubs: Overgrown bushes can offer some solitude, but they also block your view of the yard. Don’t provide potential intruders a place to hide. Plus, high bushes or greenery too close to your structure can obstruct gutters and invite pests.
ADT Signs And Decals: One of the most popular disincentives for a thief is telling aspiring rogues that you use an updated home security system. An ADT yard sign by the front door and a window sticker will tell people that they ought to shove off to an less prepared score.

Motion Triggered Flood Lighting: Light is the biggest obstacle to those who lurk in the dark. Motion-controlled flood lights on your porch, garage, or deck can help scare lurkers away. Lights also help you work the locks when you get home late after work.

Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Appleton

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install every item on your Appleton home safety checklist, we can install a powerful home security system. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can personalize the ideal system for your home’s needs. Just contact (920) 309-5628 for more information or fill out the form below. Or personalize your own system with our Security System Designer.