Home Safety Checklist For Kansas City

Being safe and secure in your residence should be your largest responsibility. But are you forgetting some useful safety components? Use this home safety checklist for Kansas City and find out where your house requires some work.

We give you a few whole-home safety items, and then we delve down room-by-room. Then, you can call (816) 287-1177 or complete the form below to talk to a security professional.

Basic Home Safety Checklist for Kansas City

While you will want to take a room-to-room method for home safety, there are some methods that are useful for your entire home. These devices can sync with one another through a touchscreen hub, and often can respond to one another. You might also manage all your home safety equipment with a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your entryways should have a sensor that warns you and your family to forced entry. When an alarm goes off, your monitoring team answers the call and immediately contacts a first responder.

Smart Lighting For Each Room: Sure, you can schedule your smart lighting so your house is more efficient. But smart lights can also help you remain safe throughout an emergency. Make your lights flash on when an alarm triggers to scare off intruders or illuminate the way out to a secure place.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Kansas City should save you up to 15% in gas and electric costs. Also, it can start the exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Fire Detectors: It’s code that you have a smoke detector on each floor. You can increase your fire preparedness by hanging a monitored fire alarm that looks for excessive smoke and heat, and notifies your 24-hour monitoring experts when it senses a fire.

Smart Lock For Every Door: Every entryway that utilizes a deadbolt can upgrade to a smart door lock. Now you can assign numbered codes to family and friends and receive alerts to your phone when they are used. Your doors can even automatically unlock, helping you to quickly get out during a fire or dangerous situation.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Kansas City

You’ll hang out most in the living room, so it can be the perfect area to improve your home safety. Popular items, like a big screen or video game console, usually are located in your family room, making it a tempting space for thieves. Begin with placing a motion detector or indoor security camera in your room, then take a look at some of these ideas:

Motion Detectors: By installing motion detectors, you’ll get a loud alarm anytime they sense suspicious movement in your living room. Look for motion sensors that ignore pets or you’ll get an alert each time your pet comes in for a drink of water.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera offers an eye on your living room. View constant feeds of the area so you can know what’s going on without leaving your bed. Or chat with your family in the family room using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Protect those electronics and stop overburdening your circuits with a surge protector. For added energy-efficiency, install a smart plug with anti-surge functionality in the unit.
Heavy Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll want to bolt your heavy furniture and entertainment center to the wall. This is extra crucial if your living room has carpeting that might make heavy objects extra unstable.
Special Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your family room uses a sliding glass door that slides out to a patio, deck, or porch, you probably know that the latch is usually worthless. Use an enhanced lock, like a metal bar or locks that are located on the top and bottom of the opening.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Kansas City

Your kitchen has room for items that should bring safety to your house. Most of these objects should be simple to add and should be purchased from the Target or Walmart:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can come from from an unwatched pot or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always keep a fire extinguisher at hand for any cooking mishaps.
GFCI Box On Every Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be used on outlets where they’re by running water to prevent an electric shock. That includes the plugs around your sink and kitchen counter. For 30 years, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But if you don’t want all your outlets to turn off when one outlet flips, you’re going to want to have an unchained GFCI per outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is needed in kitchens that employ gas for the oven and range. If your gas lines malfunction, the CO detector will cause a high-decibel sound and call your monitoring center.
Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety hazard in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and contamination from raw meat and vegetables. Always keep antiviral wipes or an antibacterial spray to clean your counters after preparing food.
Refrigerator Alarm: The food items in your fridge need to stay at a constant temperature to be ready to use. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door open, then an alarm beep will tell you to shut it securely. Some appliances already have a pre-installed alarm, others do not, and you’ll have to buy an external alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Kansas City

Just because you may not have a lot of room in your bathroom doesn’t mean that there aren’t safety concerns. From flood detectors to electric safety, here are five safety improvements for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or shower can lead to an expensive amount of destruction. Discover a leaking pipe with a flood detector before they bring about hundreds of dollars in ruined floors, walls, and fixtures.
Textured Shower Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be devastating, causing bumps, sore joints, or sprained ankles. You can avoid these issues with a non-slip bath mat for while you towel off.

No-slip Bathtub Strips: Likewise, a bathtub can be a slippery area to stand in. It’s a good idea that every bathtub has some no-slip stickies so your feet and toes have a rough patch to grip.

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

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Similarly to the kitchen, you will have to also put in a surge protecting circuit interrupter outlet on each bathroom outlet. These will shut off the electricity if water enters the outlet or you have a harmful surge from an electric razor or hair dryer.

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Kansas City

A child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with accessibility. If their window treatments or other things are safe but tricky to operate, then your children may get around the device with risky activities -- like shimmying up a chest of drawers -- to open them. Here are 5 easy, and safe, ideas:

No Cord Window Coverings: Safety professionals have designated corded window treatments an unsuspecting hazard for both children and pets. Install motorized treatments that kids can easily control via remote control. Or even better, link your shades to your ADT smart hub so they can raise without anyone’s help when the sun comes up, and go down at bedtime for an easier sleep.

Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera placed on your kid’s desk or dresser can act like a high tech baby monitor that you can view from a smartphone. And if they need your help, they can use the two-way talk feature on the camera.

Outlet Plug Covers: While every outlet should have covers on them for your young children, this is doubly needed in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your toddler will most likely play by themselves without constant adult supervision.

Window Safety Ladder: If you have bedrooms on above the first floor, then you should have a window escape ladder. These should help a young one leave the house even if the stairway or ground floor are on fire. Remember to go over how to unfurl the ladder a few times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Shelves: It’s weird to look at a toy chest as a safety device, but you’ll get it if you’ve ever tramped on a building block in your socked feet. A clean floor gives your child a quick escape when there’s a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Kansas City

The master bedroom should be a refuge, so let your safety items give you peace of mind if you have an emergency event. After all, being jerked awake by a wailing alarm can be quite a shock.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your dresser helps you know what’s happening without getting out of bed. You could also turn on your ADT mobile app but, the large touchscreen can be easier to manage to use when you’re coming out of sleep and confused.

Phone Charging Station: We depend on our phones for so much now alarm clocks, news readers, games, and --legend has it-- even phones. The only problem is that a dead cell in the middle of the night cuts us off from communications if during an emergency. To make sure your phone always works, a charging station or cord becomes an important part of your nightstand.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A small light can be a beacon when you’re startled awake from a siren or other sounds. If you won’t drift off to sleep with a nightlight, use smart lights in your bedroom and hall. Then you can have light simply with a push of a button or voice command.
Fireproof Safe: Store your vital paperwork like insurance cards, medical information, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof safe. Your lockbox can be a large one that camps out in a corner or a slender portable lockbox that you can snatch on your way out during a fire or break-in.

Temperature Sensor: The problem with most bedrooms is that they might feel too hot or be frigid since they are far from the thermostat. A temperature sensor can communicate to your smart thermostat so you can have a comfortable, relaxing sleep at just the right climate.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Kansas City

Most safety issues in the basement or garage are with your pipes or heating system. Finding problems early can stave away bigger emergencies later on. So, as you look around your garage or basement, pay attention to 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 finding a mess when you step into your basement or garage. The last you need is to lose the weekend bailing out water and going through all those storage boxes.

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s nice to have a carbon monoxide detector in areas where a natural gas leak can happen. If you have gas heat, try to install an alarm in the same room as your unit.
WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector detects a hot water heater leak or a burst pipe, then you need to cut off the primary water valve at once. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can block water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s helpful when you’re out of town and see an emergency leak alert on your mobile device.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open leads to all sorts of headaches. You can waste HVAC energy through that gaping hole, and critters or intruders can just walk in. A sensor will notify you about an open garage door and allow you to close it through the app.
Temperature Sensor: A heat alarm in your basement or garage is a definite if you worry about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these areas can be drastically different than the rest of the home, so you may need to keep a constant look on them by using your security mobile app.

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Kansas City

Your front yard, drive, and front porch are just as important to make safe as the inside of your home. Use this checklist to defend your perimeter:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s arrived at the front door before you open it and talk to guests. Get a visual on packages and look at video clips if they are stolen.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to alert you to suspicious movement in your yard. These cameras are nice in places where you may not have a window installed -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.

Low Shrubs: Overgrown shrubs can create some serenity, but they also obscure your line of sight of the outside. Don’t offer potential intruders an area to hide. Plus, large shrubs or greenery around your structure can clog gutters and bring in ants and termites.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the most popular disincentives for a thief is telling potential burglars that you have an updated home security system. An ADT sign by the stoop and a window cling will tell people that they ought to keep walking to an unprotected score.

Motion Controlled Outside Light Fixtures: Light is the biggest obstacle to those who skulk in the dark. Motion-controlled lights on your deck, porch, or garage can shoo possible intruders away. Lights also help you see the walk when you get to the house late after work.

Contact Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You With Your Home Safety Checklist for Kansas City

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver each household item on your Kansas City home safety checklist, we can bring you a state-of-the-art security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can install the perfect system for your house’s needs. Just call (816) 287-1177 to get started or complete the form below. Or customize your own ADT system with our Security System Designer.