Home Safety Checklist For Dallas

Being safe in your house should be your topmost priority. But are you forgetting some useful safety components? Take this home safety checklist for Dallas and find out where your home can use greater attention.

We give you some whole-house safety items, and then we whittle it down on a room level. Then, call (214) 997-6030 or complete the form below to speak to a security agent.

Basic Home Safety Checklist for Dallas

While you may want to take a room-to-room method for home safety, there are a few things that work for the whole-house approach. These components can link together through a smart hub, and can even respond to one another. You might also control each of your home safety equipment using a smartphone app, like ADT Control:

Monitored Security System: All your doors and windows should employ a sensor that warns you to intrusion. When an alarm trips, your monitoring team answers the alert and contacts emergency personnel.

Smart Lighting For Most Rooms: Sure, you can schedule your smart lights so your house is more efficient. But smart lights can also help you remain safe in an emergency. Make your downstairs lights flash on when an alarm goes off to scare off intruders or light the way out to a outside location.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Dallas could save you up to 15% in energy costs. Also, it can flip on your exhaust fan during a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you will have a smoke detector on every level. You can increase your fire readiness by installing a monitored fire alarm that looks for unusual smoke and heat, and pings your 24-hour monitoring experts when it senses a fire.

Smart Locks: Every door that uses a keyed lock can be made safer with a smart door lock. Now you can set key codes to family and friends and receive texts to your mobile device when your locks are used. Your doors can even automatically turn off, helping you to quickly flee the house when you have a fire or other emergency.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Dallas

You’ll spend a lot of time in your family room, so it’s the perfect place to optimize your home safety. Electronics, like a big screen or video games, typically reside in your family room, making it a popular room for burglars. Start with hanging a motion sensor or indoor security camera in your room, then try some of these ideas:

Motion Sensors: By putting in motion sensors, you’ll hear a shrieking alarm anytime they sense unexpected motion within your living room. The best devices are motion sensors that ignore pets or you’ll see a tripped alarm every time your cat roams by for a drink of water.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts a constant watch on your family room. Get live streams of everything so you can know what’s going on through the mobile app. Or speak with your kids when they get back from playing with the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Safeguard those electronics and quit overtaxing your circuits with a surge protector. For extra convenience, use a smart plug with anti-surge functionality built-in.
Furniture Attached To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll need to secure your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to your wall. This is especially important if your family room has carpeting that might make objects extra unbalanced.
Special Locks For Glass Doors: If your family room uses a sliding glass door that leads to a backyard, deck, or screened-in porch, you know that the door lock is pretty thin. Install an enhanced lock, like a cross bar or small locks that are located on the bottom and top of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Dallas

The kitchen has room for items that should add comfort and safety to your home. Many of these objects should be a snap to add and should be purchased from the a retail store:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can spring up from a neglected pot or a faulty burner. Always have a fire extinguisher in close reach for any kitchen emergencies.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Each Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be standard anywhere there’s nearby running water to lessen the chance of electrocution. That includes the plugs close to your kitchen counter and sink. Since 1987, it’s been required to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But if you don’t want all your outlets to go dead when one outlet surges, you’ll want to use a single GFCI per outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is recommended for kitchens that have a gas oven and stove. If your gas burners spring a leak, the carbon monoxide detector will emit a high-decibel noise and ping your monitoring center.
Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety issue in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and cross-contamination from uncooked meat and vegetables. Always store cleaning wipes or a bleach spray to sanitize your counters when preparing food.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The items in the fridge have to stay at a constant temperature to be safe to eat. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door open, then an alarm beep will let you know so you can close the door. Some refrigerators already have an alarm, older models do not, and you’ll have to pick up a refrigerator alarm from online.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Dallas

Just because you don’t a lot of space in your bathroom doesn’t mean that there aren’t safety issues. From water problems to anti-surge outlets, here are a few safety ideas for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking sink or tub can create extensive destruction. Find out early about water problems with a flood detector and save yourself from renovating the whole bathroom.
Non-slip Shower Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be painful, causing bumps, bruises, or trips to the hospital. You can steer clear from these problems with a textured bathroom mat for after your bath or shower.

Textured Bathtub Strips: Likewise, a bathtub can be a slick surface to be on. Make sure each has some no-slip stickers so your feet and toes have a bumpy patch to grip.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have curious toddlers or anyone with memory complications, you have to take additional care regarding medicine. Safeguard your bottles by getting a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Similarly to the kitchen, you will have to also use a grounded GFCI outlet on each bathroom outlet. This will shut off the current if they ever get wet or there’s a harmful surge from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Dallas

Your child’s bedroom should balance safety with manageability. If their window treatments or other items are safe but difficult to use, then your child may try risky methods -- like climb a dresser -- to touch them. Here are some simple, yet safe, ideas:

No Cord Window Treatments: Safety professionals have identified cords from shades and blinds a secret hazard for both children and pets. Install motorized shades that you can easily manage through a remote control. Or better yet, link your motorized coverings to your ADT smart hub so they open on a schedule when it’s time to get up, and go down in the evening for extra privacy.

Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera sitting on your child’s dresser can behave like a high tech baby monitor that you can watch from your phone. And when they want something, they can use the 2-way talk button on the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While each outlet should have protective covers on them when you have young children, this is doubly urgent in their bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your child will most likely be by themselves without parental supervision.

Window Escape Ladder: If you have bedrooms on the second floor, then you should install a window escape ladder. These can help a child leave the house even if the stairway or lower levels are blocked off with fire. Just remember to go over how to use the ladder a few times a year.

Toy Chest Or Low Shelves: It’s weird to look at a toy chest as a safety device, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever walked on an action figure in your stocking feet. A clean floor means a quick retreat if there’s an emergency.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Dallas

Your bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety items make life easier when you experience an emergency event. After all, being wrenched awake by a high-decibel buzzer can be quite a shock.

Smart Hub Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your nightstand helps you know what’s happening without leaving your bed. You could always log into your ADT mobile app. However, the HD touchscreen can be easier to use to use when you’re bleary-eyed and finding your bearings.

Device Charging Station: We depend on our smartphones for almost everything now GPS, news readers, time wasters, and sometimes even phones. The only problem is that a depleted device in the middle of the night cuts us off from reaching help if during an emergency. To keep it nice and ready, a charging cord or station becomes an important part of your nightstand.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A plug-in light can calm you when you’re jolted awake from a fire alarm or other loud noises. If you can’t fall asleep with an outlet light, install smart bulbs in your bedroom and hall. Then you can control light on-demand with a push of a button or voice direction.
Fireproof Safe: Keep your essential documents like social security cards, stock certificates, or banking information in a fireproof safe. This can be a bigger one that camps out in a corner or a slender handheld safe that you can carry on your way out during a fire or break-in.

Heat Sensor: The problem with a master bedroom is that they might be too stuffy or be frigid because they sit across the house from the thermostat. A temperature sensor can communicate to your smart thermostat so you will have a comfortable, restful sleep at the perfect temperature.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Dallas

Most safety needs in the garage or basement are with your pipes or heating system. Finding problems before they start can prevent more devastating problems in the future. So, as you take a look around your storage areas, pay attention to these critical items:

Flood Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood alarm in back of your water heater and sump pump can stop you from wading into a mess when you go into your basement or garage. The last you need is to spend the weekend bailing out water and going through all those storage boxes.

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s nice to install a carbon monoxide detector in an area where a CO leak can happen. If you use gas heating, try to put a detector in the same room as your HVAC unit.
WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood sensor detects a hot water heater leak or a broken pipe, then you need to cap the main water valve immediately. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can turn off your water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re on vacation and receive a flood sensor alert on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open brings about all types of headaches. You can lose a bunch of heat or air through that open door, and rodents or intruders can just wander in. A sensor will text you about a forgotten garage door and allow you to close it remotely.
Heat Sensor: A temperature alarm in your garage or basement is essential if you worry about frozen pipes. The temperature in these areas can be drastically different than the rest of the house, so you will need to keep a closer eye on the temperature with your security mobile app.

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Dallas

Your foliage, drive, and front walk are just as imperative to defend as the rest of your house. Try this checklist to create a safe outside:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s arrived at the front door before you open it and chat with visitors. See package deliveries and record video clips if they are taken.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can place outdoor cameras to alert you to suspicious activity in your yard. These cameras come in handy in areas where you may not have a window -- like a side yard or by the driveway.

Window Height Bushes: High shrubs can create some solitude, but they also hinder your view of the outside. Don’t offer potential thieves a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall bushes, shrubs or trees around your home can clog gutters and invite ants and termites.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the largest disincentives for a break-in is telling potential rogues that you have a monitored ADT security system. An ADT yard sign by the main walk and a window decal will show lurkers that they might want to move on to an easier house.

Motion Triggered Flood Light Fixtures: Light is the best deterrent to those who sneak around in the dark. Motion-controlled lighting on your deck, patio, or garage can frighten lurkers away. They also help you see the walk when you get to the house on those dark, winter nights.

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

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with each household item on your Dallas home safety checklist, we can offer a state-of-the-art home security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can personalize the best system for your house’s needs. Just call (214) 997-6030 to get started or complete the form below. Or personalize your own system with our Security System Designer.