Being safe in your home should be your number one responsibility. But are you overlooking one or two useful safety components? Look over this home safety checklist for Fort Lauderdale and find out where your living space can use greater attention.
This guide starts with some whole-house safety items, and then we whittle it down on a room level. Then, you can call (954) 688-4955 or fill out the form below to talk to a security expert.
Whole Home Safety Checklist for Fort Lauderdale
While you will want to use a room-to-room approach to home safety, there are a few things that work for the whole-house approach. These devices can link with one another through a wireless hub, and often can react to one another. You might also control every one of your home safety components through a mobile security app, like ADT Control:
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Smart Bulbs For Every Major Room: Of course, you can schedule your smart lighting to make your home more energy-efficient. But smart lights can also allow you to remain safe during an emergency. Have your smart bulbs flash on when an alarm trips to shoo off intruders or light the way out to a safe location.
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Monitored Fire Alarms: At the very least, you need to have a fire detector on each level of your house. You can increase your fire game by installing a monitored fire alarm that detects excessive heat and smoke, and pings your round-the-clock monitoring experts when it detects a fire.
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Smart Door Locks: Every entryway that uses a keyed lock can be made safer with a smart door lock. Now you can assign key codes to each family member and receive alerts to your smartphone when your locks are unlocked. Your locks can even automatically unlock, helping you to quickly get out during an emergency.
Family Room Safety Checklist For Fort Lauderdale
You’ll spend most of your time in your living room, so it may be the perfect area to start making your house a safer place. Highly sought after items, like your TV or video games, probably are located in your family room, making it a tempting room for thieves. Begin with hanging a motion sensor or indoor camera by the doorway, then take a look at all these ideas:
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Motion Sensors: By installing motion sensors, you’ll hear a high-decibel alarm if they sense unexpected motion in your living room. You’ll want motion sensors that ignore pet movements or you’ll have your sirens go off every time your cat roams by for a drink of water.
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Security Camera: An indoor security camera gives you a visual on your living room. Get real-time streams of the area so you can see what’s happening without leaving your bed. Or chat with your kids in the room by using the two-way talk feature.
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Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Safeguard all your electronics and quit overloading your circuits with a surge protector. For extra energy-efficiency, use a smart plug with surge protection included.
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Furniture Secured To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll need to secure your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to the wall. This is especially important if your family room uses carpeting that could make objects extra unstable.
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Special Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your living room has a sliding door that slides out to a backyard, deck, or outside porch, you know that the latch is fairly thin. Use an enhanced lock, like a metal bar or small locks that are located on the bottom and top of the frame.
Kitchen Safety Checklist For Fort Lauderdale
Your kitchen has plenty of items that should bring comfort and safety to your house. Some of these items should be a snap to add and should be found in the Target or Walmart:
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Fire Extinguisher: A fire can happen from an unwatched frying pan or an errant grease splatter. Always have a fire extinguisher at the ready for any kitchen mishaps.
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Circuit Interrupter Box On Each Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be standard everywhere there’s nearby running water to prevent a deadly shock. That means the plug outlets by your kitchen counter and sink. Since the late ‘80s, it’s been standard to have one circuit interrupter outlet per dedicated circuit. But all your plugs will go if any outlet sees a surge, so you’ll want to install a separate GFCI for every outlet.
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Monitored CO Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is recommended for spaces that have gas for the stove and oven. If your gas appliances spring a leak, the CO detector will emit a loud, buzzing noise and ping your monitoring agent.
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Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety problem in the kitchen is actually bacteria and protein from raw meat and dairy. Always have cleaning wipes or a bleach spray to scrub off your counters when preparing food.
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Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in your fridge have to remain at a chilly temperature to stay safe to eat. If you leave the refrigerator door open, then a small beep will let you know so you can shut it securely. Some appliances come with an alarm, others do not, and you’ll have to buy an external alarm from online.
Bathroom Safety Checklist For Fort Lauderdale
Just because you may not have a lot of room in your bathroom there’s still safety hazards. From flood detectors to electric safety, here are five safety tips for your bathroom:
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Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or bathtub can cause an expensive amount of water damage. Discover pooling water early with a flood detector and save yourself from redoing the entire bathroom.
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No-slip Bath Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing cuts, bruises, or broken bones. Or avoid these hazards with a no-slip bath mat for after your bath or shower.
Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Fort Lauderdale
Your child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with accessibility. If their window shades or other items are safe but tricky to manage, then your children may get around the device with risky activities -- like scale a bookshelf -- to open them. Here are some simple, and safe, ideas:
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No Cord Window Coverings: Safety agencies have long called window treatment cords a secret hazard for kids and pets. Install motorized blinds or shades that your child can easily manage through a remote. Or go state-of-the-art and connect your shades to your ADT security system so they rise automatically when it’s time to get up, and lower in the evening for an easier sleep.
Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Fort Lauderdale
The bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety items give you peace of mind if you experience an emergency. After all, being startled awake by a wailing alarm can be disorienting.
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Personal Charging Area: We depend on our phones for so many things now GPS, news readers, game machines, and maybe even phones. But, an uncharged cell can cut us off from reaching help if there’s a problem. To make sure your phone always works, a charging cord or station becomes an essential.
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Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A plug-in light helps ground you when you’re jolted awake from an alarm or other loud noises. If you can’t fall asleep with a nightlight, install smart lights in your fixtures. Then you can control light anytime with a button push or voice command.
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Fireproof Safe: Stash your essential documents like insurance cards, passports, 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 grab as you escape during a fire or other emergency.
Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Fort Lauderdale
Most safety problems in the garage or basement have to do with your water heater or heating system. Finding issues at the source can prevent larger disasters in the future. So, as you take a look around your basement or garage, pay attention to these critical items:
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Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s beneficial to have a CO detector in a place where a gas leak can spring up. If you employ a gas furnace, you’ll want to hang an alarm in the same room as your unit.
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Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your water alarm detects a hot water heater leak or a burst pipe, then you will have to cap the main water pipe at once. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can block water flow from any mobile device. That’s nice when you’re visiting relatives and see a flood sensor alert on your smartphone.
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Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open leads to all sorts of problems. You can lose HVAC energy through that gaping hole, and rodents or intruders can just walk in. A remote sensor will notify you about a neglected garage door and lets you close it remotely.
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Heat Sensor: A temperature alarm in your garage or basement is a definite if you fret about your pipes freezing. The heat in these rooms can be surprisingly different than your main rooms of the home, so you will want to maintain a constant look on the temperature by using the ADT mobile app.
Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for Fort Lauderdale
Your landscaping, driveway, and front walk are just as important to make safe as the rest of your house. Try the items on this checklist to create a safe outside:
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Low Shrubs: Overgrown bushes can offer some privacy, but they also hinder you seeing into the yard. Don’t provide potential intruders a place to hide. Plus, large shrubs or foliage too close to your structure can obstruct gutters and bring in bugs.
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ADT Yard Signs: One of the most popular disincentives for a break-in is telling potential rogues that you own a state-of-the-art security system. An ADT yard sign by the front door and a window sticker will show lurkers that they might want to move on to an easier house.
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Motion Controlled Flood Lights: Light is the best deterrent to people who sneak around in the unlit places. Motion-activated lights on your deck, porch, or garage can shoo lurkers away. Flood lights also help you get inside when you come home on those dark, winter nights.
Contact Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Fort Lauderdale
While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver every item on your Fort Lauderdale home safety checklist, we can offer a state-of-the-art security system. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can install the ideal system for your house’s needs. Just contact (954) 688-4955 for more information or fill out the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.