Home Safety Checklist For Hartford

Staying safe and secure in your residence should be your topmost responsibility. But are you missing one or two useful safety components? Use this home safety checklist for Hartford and see where your home requires an update.

This guide starts with a few whole-home safety ideas, and then we delve down to specific room ideas. Then, contact (860) 288-4370 or send in the form below to speak to a security agent.

Essential Home Safety Checklist for Hartford

While you should take a room-to-room method for home safety, there are some things that work for a lot of your rooms. These items can link with one another through a wireless hub, and can even react to one another. You can also control all your home safety equipment through a mobile app, like ADT Control:

Monitored Security System: All your windows and doors should have a sensor that alerts your family to intrusion. When the alarm triggers, your monitoring team responds to the alert and immediately sends a first responder.

Smart Bulbs For Most Rooms: Sure, you can set your smart lights to make your house more energy-efficient. But they can also allow you to keep safe throughout an emergency. Have your downstairs lights flip on when a security alarm triggers to shoo off burglars or brighten your way to a safe location.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Hartford should save you 10%-15% in gas and electric spending. But it also can turn on an exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you should have a fire detector on each level of your house. You can improve your fire preparedness by hanging a monitored fire detector that senses excessive heat and smoke, and alerts your 24-hour monitoring experts when it detects a fire.

Smart Lock For Every Door: Every door that uses a deadbolt can use a smart door lock. Now you may preset key codes to each family member and get alerts to your phone when the locks are used. Your locks can even automatically open, allowing you to quickly flee the house if you have an emergency.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Hartford

You’ll spend most of your time in the family room, so it’s the perfect room to optimize your home safety. Popular items, like a TV or video games, usually reside in your living room, making it a popular space for robbers. Begin with installing a motion sensor or indoor security camera in there, then try the following safety protocols:

Motion Detectors: By hanging motion sensors, you’ll get a shrieking noise if they detect suspicious movement within your living room. Look for motion detectors that ignore a dog or cat or you’ll get your sirens go off every time your pet comes in for a midnight stroll.
Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera puts an eye on your living room. Get constant streams of the area so you can see what’s happening through the mobile app. Or talk with family members in the room with the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Safeguard all your electronics and stop overloading your outlets with a surge protector. For additional comfort, set up a smart plug with surge protection built-in.
Entertainment Center Attached To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll need to attach your bookshelves and entertainment center to a wall. This is especially crucial if your living room has carpeting that might make heavy objects extra unstable.
Enhanced Locks For Glass Doors: If your living room has a sliding glass door that opens to a backyard, deck, or outside porch, you get that the lock is pretty worthless. Use a special lock, like a cross bar or small locks that are located on the top and bottom of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Hartford

Your kitchen has many items that should provide safety to your home. Most of these things should be simple to add and can be bought from the a retail store:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can happen from an overfilled frying pan or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always keep a fire extinguisher at hand for any kitchen emergencies.
GFCI Box On Every Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be standard on outlets where there’s nearby water to prevent an electric shock. That includes the plug outlets around your sink and kitchen counter. For 30 years, it’s been standard to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But all your outlets will go if one outlet sees a surge, so you’re going to want to install a separate GFCI per outlet.

Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is handy in kitchens that employ natural gas for the oven and range. If your gas lines malfunction, the CO detector will play a high-decibel noise and contact your monitoring professional.
Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The largest safety hazard in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and cross-contamination that comes with uncooked meat and vegetables. Always have cleaning wipes or spray to clean your area before and after preparing food.
Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in the fridge should stay at a constant temperature to stay safe to use. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door open too long, then a small beep will let you know so you can check the seal. Some appliances already have this installed, older models don’t, and you’ll have to get a fridge alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Hartford

Just because you don’t a bunch of square footage in your bathroom, you will still have safety concerns. From flood prevention to medicine care, here are five safety ideas for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking sink or shower can lead to extensive destruction. Find out early about pooling water with a flood detector before they bring about hundreds to thousands of dollars in ruined floors, walls, and fixtures.
Textured Shower Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing pulled muscles, gashed heads, or broken bones. Or avoid these problems with a textured bath mat for after your bath or shower.

Textured Bathtub Stickies: Another water hazard, a bathtub can be a slippery area to stand in. Make sure every bathtub has some textured stickies so your feet and toes have a rough patch to grip.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have little kids or someone with memory difficulties, you need to take additional attention regarding medicine. Hide away your bottles by installing a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

GFCI Circuits: Just like the kitchen, you need to also use a safer GFCI outlet on every bathroom outlet. This will stop the flow of the electricity if they ever get wet or they experience an unusual surge from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Hartford

Your child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with simplicity. If their window treatments or other items are safe but difficult to manage, then your children may try unsafe methods -- like scale a dresser -- to open them. Here are 5 easy, and safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Treatments: Safety experts have designated corded window treatments a secret danger for kids and pets. Install motorized blinds or shades that kids can easily manage with a remote control. Or go state-of-the-art and connect your motorized coverings to your security system so they open automatically when the sun comes up, and lower in the evening for extra privacy.

Indoor Security Camera: A security camera placed on your child’s desk or dresser can double as a high tech baby monitor that you can view from a mobile device. And when they want you, they can hit the two-way talk button on the camera.

Plug Covers: While each outlet should have protective covers on them to protect your little children, this is doubly urgent in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your toddler will most likely be solo without constant additional supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you use bedrooms on above the first story, then you need to have a window safety ladder. These should let a child leave the house even if the hallway or lower levels are engulfed in smoke and fire. Just remember to rehearse how to unfurl them a few times a year.

Toy Chest Or Low Bookshelves: It’s weird to think about a toy chest as a safety item, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever stepped on an action figure in your socked feet. A clean floor means a quick retreat during a fire or break-in.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Hartford

The master bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety devices make you more responsive if you have an emergency. After all, being jerked awake by a loud siren can be disorienting.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your dresser lets you see what’s happening without getting out of bed. You could always turn on your ADT phone app but, the HD touchscreen can be easier to control to use when you’re yawning and finding your bearings.

Device Charging Area: We rely on our cell phones for so much now GPS, internet searches, games, and sometimes even phones. The only problem is that an uncharged device can cut us off from reaching help if during an emergency. So, a an easy-to-use charging station becomes should be used nightly.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A plug-in light helps ground you when you’re jolted awake from a fire alarm or unexpected sounds. If you won’t drift off to sleep with an outlet light, use smart lights in your fixtures. Then you can control light on-demand with a button push or voice command.
Fireproof Safe: Keep your important documents like social security cards, stock certificates, or a bankbook in a fireproof safe. Your lockbox can be a large one that camps out out of the way or a small portable lockbox that you can snatch when you leave during an emergency event.

Temperature Sensor: The drawback with most bedrooms is that they might feel too warm or be frigid because they sit across the house from the thermostat. A heat sensor can talk to your smart thermostat so you can have a nice, relaxing sleep at a wonderful temperature.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Hartford

Most safety problems in the basement or garage deal with your water or furnace. Seeing problems before they start can stop larger emergencies later on. So, as you look around your garage or basement, check over these crucial items:

Flood Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Installing a flood alarm next to your water heater or sump pump drain can prevent you from discovering a pond when you walk into your garage or basement. Do you really want to waste your weekend getting rid of standing water?

CO Detector: It’s nice to install a carbon monoxide alarm in areas where a natural gas leak can spring up. If you use gas heating, you’ll want to hang a detector in the same place as your inbound pipes.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your water alarm senses a hot water leak or a busted pipe, then you will have to shut off the primary water pipe immediately. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s helpful when you’re visiting relatives and receive an emergency leak notification on your smartphone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open brings about all sorts of headaches. You can waste HVAC energy through that open door, and all sorts of animals or lurkers can just saunder in. A remote sensor will alert you to an open garage door and allow you to close it with your phone.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your basement or garage is a definite if you worry about frozen pipes. The temperature in these rooms can be surprisingly different than the rest of the home, so you may want to maintain a constant look on the temperature through your mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Hartford

Your foliage, drive, and front porch are just as crucial to make safe as the rest of your house. Use this checklist to defend your perimeter:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s at the door before you answer it and welcome visitors. Get a visual on deliveries and review video clips if they disappear.

Outdoor Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to guard against late night activity in your back yard. These devices are nice in areas where you may not have a window installed -- like around a cellar or by the garage.

Low Shrubbery: Overgrown shrubs can offer some serenity, but they also obscure your view of the yard and curb. Don’t give potential intruders a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall bushes or greenery around your structure can clog gutters and bring in bugs.
ADT Signs And Decals: One of the biggest disincentives for home intrusion is alerting aspiring rogues that you own an updated home security system. An ADT yard sign by the front door and a window decal will show ne'er-do-wells that they should keep walking to an less prepared score.

Motion Activated Outside Lights: Light is the biggest obstacle to people who skulk in the dark. Motion-controlled lights on your deck, porch, or garage can frighten lurkers away. Lights also help you work the locks when you come back home late at night.

Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You With Your Home Safety Checklist for Hartford

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install non-security devices on your Hartford home safety checklist, we can bring you a powerful home security. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can personalize the ideal system for your house’s needs. Just contact (860) 288-4370 and talk to a professional or fill out the form below. Or customize your own system with our Security System Designer.