Home Safety Checklist For Provo
Keeping safe and secure in your home should be your largest priority. But are you overlooking some useful safety components? Use this home safety checklist for Provo and discover where your home can use an update.
We give you a few whole-house safety items, and then we delve down to specific room ideas. Then, contact (801) 980-2683 or send in the form below to get your home safe and secure.
Essential Home Safety Checklist for Provo
While you may want to take a room-to-room method for home safety, there are a few items that work for the whole-house approach. These items can sync together through a smart hub, and can even react to one another. You might also manage all your home safety devices through a smartphone app, like ADT Control:
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Monitored Security System: All your doors and windows should employ a sensor that warns your family to intrusion. After your alarm trips, your monitoring center answers the call and contacts the police or fire department.
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Smart Lights For Most Rooms: Sure, you can program your smart lights so your house is more eco-conscience. But smart lights can also help you stay safe in an emergency. Have your smart bulbs flip on when an alarm trips to scare off burglars or brighten a path to a safe location.
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Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Provo can save you up to 15% in utility costs. Also, it can start an exhaust fan during a fire.
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Monitored Fire Detectors: It’s code that you should have a fire alarm on every level. You can increase your fire game by installing a monitored fire alarm that looks for excessive smoke and heat, and alerts your round-the-clock monitoring agents when it thinks that there’s a fire.
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Smart Locks: Every door that needs a deadbolt can upgrade to a smart lock. Now you may set key codes to family and friends and get notifications to your smartphone when they are activated. Your doors can even automatically open, allowing you to quickly flee the house during a fire or dangerous situation.
Family Room Safety Checklist For Provo
You’ll spend most of your time in the family room, so it’s the perfect area to begin your home safety optimization. Highly sought after items, like a TV or video game console, probably sit in your family room, making it a popular room for robbers. Start with placing a motion sensor or indoor security camera by the doorway, then take a look at some of these ideas:
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Motion Detectors: By putting in motion sensors, you’ll hear a shrieking noise whenever they sense unusual movement within your living room. You’ll want motion sensors that aren’t set off by pet movements or you’ll get your sirens go off each time your pet passes through for a midnight stroll.
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Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera gives you a constant watch on your family room. Get live streams of the area so you can know what’s going on through 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: Protect all your electronics and quit overtaxing your circuits with a surge protector. For additional comfort, install a smart plug with anti-surge functionality included.
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Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll want to secure your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to your wall. This is especially important if your family room uses rugs or carpet that might make objects extra wobbly.
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Special Locks For Sliding Doors: If your family room uses a glass door that slides out to a deck, patio, or porch, you already get that the latch is usually thin. Use an enhanced lock, like a bottom bar or small locks that secures the door to the bottom and top of the door frame.
Kitchen Safety Checklist For Provo
The kitchen has many items that can bring safety and security to your house. Many of these items should be a snap to add and should be purchased from the Target or Walmart:
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Fire Extinguisher: A fire can happen from a neglected skillet or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always have a fire extinguisher in close reach for any cooking mishaps.
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Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be installed on outlets where they’re by water to lessen the chance of a deadly shock. That means the outlets around your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been code to have one GFCI per circuit. But if you don’t want every outlet to flip off when one outlet flips, you’re going to want to use an unchained GFCI on each outlet.
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Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is advised for the kitchen if you have natural gas for the oven and stove. If your gas appliances leak, the CO detector will cause a loud sound and call your monitoring professional.
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Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety problem in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and protein from raw meat and other foods. Always have cleaning wipes or spray to clean your counters after making a meal.
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Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in the fridge need to remain at a chilly temperature to stay healthy to use. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door ajar, then an alarm beep will remind you to close the door. Some refrigerators come with a pre-installed alarm, some don’t, and you’ll have to buy a fridge alarm from the hardware store.
Bathroom Safety Checklist For Provo
Just because you don’t a bunch of room in your bathroom, you will still have safety concerns. From water problems to electric safety, here are some safety tips for your bathroom:
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Flood Sensors: A leaking toilet or shower can lead to an expensive amount of destruction. Find out early about leaks with a flood detector and save yourself from reflooring the entire bathroom.
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Textured Bathroom Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing pulled muscles, gashed heads, or trips to the hospital. You can prevent these problems with a textured bath mat for after your bath or shower.
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No-slip Bathtub Stickies: Like a tiled floor, a bathtub can be a slick place to move in. It’s a good idea that every tub has some non-slip strips so your toes have a textured patch to grip.
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Medicine Door Lock: If you have young children or anyone with memory lapses, you should take extra attention regarding prescription medicine. Secure your bottles by installing a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.
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GFCI Circuits: Similarly to the kitchen, you need to also use a surge protecting circuit interrupter outlet on every bathroom circuit. This will stop the flow of the current if they ever get wet or you have a sudden surge from a curling iron or hair dryer.
Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Provo
A child’s bedroom should balance safety with accessibility. If their window treatments or other things are safe but tricky to manage, then your kids may perform dangerous methods -- like climb a bookshelf -- to open them. Try these straightforward, yet safe, ideas:
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Cordless Window Treatments: Safety experts have identified corded window treatments an unsuspecting problem for both children and pets. Use motorized shades that kids can easily manage via remote. Or go state-of-the-art and pair your motorized treatments to your ADT smart hub so they can raise on a schedule when the sun comes up, and go down in the evening for added darkness.
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Tableside Security Camera: A camera placed on your kid’s desk or dresser can double as a baby monitor that you can view from a mobile device. And when they want you, they can push the two-way talk feature included on the camera.
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Outlet Covers: While each outlet should have covers on them when you have young children, this is doubly urgent in their bedroom. It’s the one place in your home where your child will most likely be solo without consistent additional supervision.
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Window Escape Ladder: If you use bedrooms on above the first story, then you need to have a window fire ladder. These can let a young one leave the house in case the hallway or ground floor are engulfed in smoke and fire. Just remember to rehearse how to unfurl them at least twice a year.
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Toy Chest Or Low Shelves: It’s interesting to think about a toy chest as a safety item, but you’ll see the light if you’ve ever stepped on a Lego in your socked feet. A clutter-free floor means a quick retreat if there’s a safety or security event.
Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Provo
Your master bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety devices make life easier when you experience an emergency event. After all, being jerked awake by a wailing buzzer can be quite a shock.
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Security System Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your dresser lets you see what’s going on without leaving your bed. You could always log into your ADT smartphone app but, the HD touchscreen is often easier to control to use when you’re coming out of sleep and finding your bearings.
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Personal Charging Stand: We use our smartphones for so much now alarm clocks, news readers, game machines, and sometimes even phones. However, a dead phone in the middle of the night cuts us off from the outside world if there’s a problem. So, a charging cord or station is an important part of your nightstand.
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Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A plug-in light can calm you when you’re bolted awake from a fire alarm or other loud noises. If you can’t fall asleep with a nightlight, use smart lights in your bedroom. Then you can get light simply with a push of a button or vocal command.
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Fireproof Lockbox: Stash your vital documents like birth certificates, stock certificates, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a big one that sits in your closet or a smaller handheld safe that you can carry on your way out during a fire or break-in.
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Heat Sensor: The problem with bedrooms is that they can be too stuffy or be frigid since they are located far from the thermostat. A heat sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you will have a comfortable, restful sleep at just the right temperature.
Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Provo
Most safety needs in the garage or basement have to do with your pipes or HVAC system. Finding issues early can stop larger problems in the future. So, as you look around your garage or basement, take note of these crucial items:
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Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Installing a flood sensor by your water heater and sump pump drain can prevent you from wading into a lake when you go into your basement or garage. The last you need is to waste the weekend drying your floor and sorting through all those ruined boxes.
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Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s smart to install a CO alarm in an area where a gas leak can happen. If you employ gas heating, you should put an alarm in the same place as your HVAC unit.
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Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood sensor detects a plumbing leak or a burst pipe, then you will want to cut off the main water pipe at once. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s perfect when you’re visiting relatives and see a flood sensor text on your phone.
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Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door up brings about all sorts of issues. You can waste HVAC energy through that large opening, and all sorts of animals or intruders can just saunder in. A remote sensor will notify you about an open garage door and lets you lower it through the app.
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Temperature Sensor: A heat sensor in your basement or garage is handy if you fret about frozen pipes. The temperature in these areas can be drastically different than the rest of the home, so you may want to maintain a closer eye on the temp by using your mobile app.
Outside Safety Checklist for Provo
Your front yard, driveway, and front step are just as crucial to secure as the interior of your home. Try this checklist to create a safe outside:
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Doorbell Camera: See who’s arrived at the door before you open it and chat with guests. Get a visual on package deliveries and record video clips if they disappear.
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Outdoor Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to notify you about unusual activity in your back yard. These devices are nice in areas where you might not have a window -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.
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Low Shrubbery: Overgrown shrubs can create some privacy, but they also hinder you seeing into the yard and curb. Don’t give potential thieves a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall bushes or greenery too close to your structure can jam up gutters and bring in pests.
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ADT Signage: One of the largest disincentives for a break-in is telling aspiring intruders that you own an updated home security system. An ADT sign by the main walk and a window cling will tell ne'er-do-wells that they should move on to an less prepared score.
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Motion Activated Porch Light Fixtures: Light is the largest deterrent to those who skulk in the dark. Motion-triggered lighting on your porch, garage, or deck can shoo possible intruders away. Lights also help you get inside when you get back home on those dark, winter nights.
Contact Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You With Your Home Safety Checklist for Provo
While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with every item on your Provo home safety checklist, we can install a powerful home security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can personalize the ideal system for your home’s needs. Simply contact (801) 980-2683 to get started or fill out the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.