Home Safety Checklist For Texarkana

Keeping safe in your home should be your topmost priority. But are you overlooking some key safety items? Use this home safety checklist for Texarkana and find out where your living space needs greater attention.

This guide begins with some whole-house safety techniques, and then we break it down on a room level. Then, call (870) 705-5023 or fill out the form below to get your home ready.

Basic Home Safety Checklist for Texarkana

While you will want to employ a room-to-room process for home safety in Texarkana, there are a few things that are useful for the whole home. These components can sync to each other through a smart hub, and often can work off other components. You can also manage all your home safety components using a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your doors and windows should use a sensor that alerts you and your family to forced entry. When your alarm triggers, your monitoring agent responds to the alert and immediately calls the police or fire department.

Smart Lights For Each Room: Of course, you can set your smart lights to make your home more efficient. But smart lights can also help you keep safe in an emergency. Have your smart bulbs come on when a sensor triggers to frighten off robbers or light your way to a secure place.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Texarkana could save you between 10%-15% in utility costs. But it also can turn on the exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you will have a smoke detector on every level. You can improve your fire preparedness by hanging a monitored fire alarm that detects unusual heat and smoke, and notifies your 24-hour monitoring agents when it senses a fire.

Smart Locks: Every doorway that needs a keyed lock can be made safer with a smart lock. Now you may set codes to friends and family and get notifications to your phone when the locks are unlocked. Your smart lock can even automatically turn off, letting you quickly flee the house when you have an emergency.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Texarkana

You’ll spend a lot of time in the family room, so it can be the best room to kick off your home safety renovation. Highly sought after items, like a big screen or video game console, typically reside in your family room, making it a popular room for robbers. Start with hanging a motion sensor or indoor camera in there, then take a look at the following safety protocols:

Motion Sensors: By putting in motion detectors, you’ll have a shrieking noise anytime they detect unusual motion within your living room. You’ll want motion sensors that filter out pets or you’ll see your sirens go off each time your cat roams by for a bite of food.
Security Camera: An indoor security camera gives you an eye on your living room. View live streams of the area so you can know what’s happening without leaving your bed. Or chat with family members when they arrive home from playing by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect those electronics and stop overloading your circuits with a surge protector. For added energy-efficiency, use a smart plug with surge protection built-in.
Heavy Furniture Secured To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll want to attach your bookshelves and entertainment center to your wall. This is extra crucial if your living room uses carpeting that could make furniture extra wobbly.
Enhanced Locks For Sliding Doors: If your family room uses a sliding door that opens to a patio, deck, or screened-in porch, you probably get that the latch is fairly thin. Put in a special lock, like a cross bar or small locks that secures the door to the bottom and top of the frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Texarkana

The kitchen has plenty of items that can provide safety to your house. Most of these items are also easy to add and should be purchased from the grocery store:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can happen from an unwatched pot or an errant grease splatter. Always store a fire extinguisher at hand for any kitchen mishaps.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be standard everywhere there’s nearby running water to ward off electrocution. That includes the plug outlets around your sink and kitchen counter. For 30 years, it’s been code to have one GFCI per circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, you’ll want to install an unchained GFCI on each outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is handy in kitchens that have gas for the oven and stove. If your gas appliances malfunction, the CO detector will emit a loud sound and contact your monitoring professional.
Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety hazard in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and contamination that comes with blood from meat and other foods. Always keep disinfectant wipes or an antibacterial spray to sanitize your surfaces before and after cooking.
Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in the refrigerator need to stay at a cold temperature to stay healthy to use. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door open, then a constant beep will let you know so you can shut it securely. Some refrigerators already have an alarm, some do not, and you’ll have to buy a refrigerator alarm from online.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Texarkana

Just because you may not have a bunch of square footage in your bathroom, you will still have safety concerns. From flood prevention to electric safety, here are a few safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking sink or tub can create an expensive amount of water damage. Find out early about pooling water with a flood detector and save a bunch of money from water damage.
No-slip Bathroom Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing cuts, sore joints, or broken bones. Make sure you avoid these hazards with a non-slip bathroom mat for after your bath or shower.

Textured Bathtub Stickies: Likewise, a bathtub can be a slick place to move in. Make sure every bathtub has some non-slip stickies so your toes have a rough patch to gain traction.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have little toddlers or someone with memory difficulties, you need to take additional attention regarding prescribed medicine. Secure your pills and syrups by getting a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Similarly to the kitchen, you need to also put in a surge protecting GFCI outlet on every bathroom receptacle. This will shut off the electricity if water splashes on them or they experience a sudden surge from an electric razor or hair dryer.

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Texarkana

Your kid’s bedroom should balance safety with accessibility. If their window treatments or other things are safe but hard to use, then your child may perform dangerous activities -- like scale a bookshelf -- to use them. Here are 5 straightforward, and safe, ideas:

Cord-Free Window Treatments: Safety professionals have designated corded window treatments an unsuspecting danger for children and animals. Put in motorized blinds or shades that your child can easily control via remote control. Or better yet, pair your shades to your security system so they rise on a schedule at dawn, and close at night for added darkness.

Tableside Security Camera: A security camera placed on your toddler’s desk can double as a high tech baby monitor that you can watch with a mobile device. And if they need something, they can hit the two-way talk feature that comes with the camera.

Plug Covers: While every outlet should use protective covers on them for your young children, this is especially important in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one place in your house where your children will most likely be alone without parental supervision.

Window Safety Ladder: If you use bedrooms on above the first floor, then you need to have a window escape ladder. These will help your children leave the house in case the stairway or downstairs are blocked off with fire. Just remember to go over how to use them one or two times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s weird to think about a toy chest as a safety device, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever walked on an action figure in your bare feet. A uncluttered floor means a quick escape during a fire or break-in.

Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Texarkana

Your bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety components make you more responsive if you have an emergency event. After all, being jerked awake by a high-decibel buzzer can be disorienting.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your bedside table gives you a sense of what’s what that noise was without getting out of bed. You could also log into your ADT phone app. However, the HD touchscreen can be faster to use when you’re bleary-eyed and confused.

Personal Charging Stand: We use our smartphones for so many things now alarm clocks, internet searches, social media, and sometimes even phones. But, a dead device will cut us off from the outside world if there’s a problem. To make sure your phone always works, a charging cord or station becomes an essential.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A plug-in light can be a beacon when you’re bolted awake from an alarm or unexpected sounds. If you can’t fall asleep with an outlet light, put in smart lights in your bedroom. Then you can have light on-demand with a push of a button or vocal command.
Fireproof Safe: Stash your essential documents like social security cards, passports, or a bankbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a large one that is located in your closet or a smaller handheld safe that you can carry when you leave during an emergency event.

Heat Sensor: The problem with most bedrooms is that they can be too hot or be chilly since they sit across the house from the thermostat. A heat sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you will have a nice, peaceful sleep at a wonderful climate.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Texarkana

Most safety needs in the garage or basement are with your water or heating system. Seeing problems early can prevent bigger problems later on. So, as you look around your storage areas, take note of these critical items:

Flood Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood sensor by your water heater or sump pump can save you from finding a pond when you step into your basement or garage. Do you really want to spend your day getting rid of standing water?

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s smart to install a carbon monoxide alarm in an area where a gas leak can spring up. If you use a gas furnace, you’ll want to hang a detector in the same room as your unit.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood sensor senses a plumbing leak or a busted pipe, then you will want to cut off the primary water pipe at once. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can block water flow from any mobile device. That’s perfect when you’re out of town and receive a flood sensor text on your smartphone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open brings about all sorts of problems. You can lose HVAC energy through that open door, and all sorts of animals or intruders can just saunder in. A remote sensor will alert you to a neglected garage door and allow you to close it through the app.
Heat Sensor: A heat sensor in your basement or garage is a definite if you worry about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these rooms can be drastically different than the rest of the home, so you will need to maintain a constant look on the temp through your security mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Texarkana

Your landscaping, drive, and front step are just as imperative to make safe as the rest of your house. Use this checklist to make your outside safe:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s arrived at the the front step before you answer it and welcome guests. See package deliveries and record video clips if they are stolen.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can install outdoor cameras to guard against suspicious activity in your back yard. These security cameras are especially useful in areas where you may not have a window installed -- like around a cellar or by the garage.

Window Height Shrubbery: Tall bushes can offer some solitude, but they also obscure you seeing into the outside. Don’t provide potential burglars a dark shadow to hide. Plus, large shrubs or trees around your house can obstruct gutters and bring in ants and termites.
ADT Signs And Decals: One of the largest disincentives for a thief is alerting would-be intruders that you own a state-of-the-art home security system. An ADT yard stick by the front door and a window cling will show people that they should keep walking to an less prepared target.

Motion Activated Flood Lighting: Light is the best obstacle to those who lurk in the dark. Motion-triggered flood lights on your deck, patio, or garage can shoo lurkers away. Flood lights also help you see the walk when you arrive back home late at night.

Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Texarkana

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver each household item on your Texarkana home safety checklist, we can bring you a state-of-the-art home security. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can personalize the perfect system for your family’s needs. Just contact (870) 705-5023 and talk to a professional or send in the form below. Or customize your own ADT system with our Security System Designer.