ADT® Authorized Dealer Serving Monroe & Surrounding Areas

Home Safety Checklist For Monroe

Staying safe and secure in your house should be your topmost responsibility. But are you forgetting one or two key safety components? Use this home safety checklist for Monroe and discover where your living space needs an update.

This guide begins with five whole-house safety ideas, and then we break it down on a room level. Then, you can call (318) 226-6496 or send in the form below for additional information.

Whole Home Safety Checklist

Essential Home Safety Checklist for Monroe

While you will want to take a room-to-room process for home safety in Monroe, there are a few methods that are practical for your entire home. These components can sync to each other through a touchscreen hub, and can even work off other components. You might also control all your home safety components with a mobile app, like ADT Control:

  • Monitored Home Security System: All your doors and windows should use a sensor that notifies you and your family to intrusion. When the alarm triggers, your monitoring agent responds to the alert and immediately sends emergency personnel.

  • Smart Lighting For Each Room: Sure, you can schedule your smart lights to become more efficient. But smart lights can also allow you to stay safe throughout an emergency. Make your smart bulbs come on when an alarm triggers to shoo off burglars or light a path to a secure place.

  • Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Monroe should save you up to 15% in energy spending. Also, it can turn on your exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

  • Monitored Fire Detectors: At the very least, you have a fire alarm on every level. You can improve your fire game by installing a monitored fire alarm that detects excessive smoke and heat, and pings your 24-hour monitoring team when it senses a fire.

  • Smart Lock For Every Door: Every doorway that uses a keyed lock can use a smart door lock. Now you can set numbered codes to friends and family and get texts to your mobile device when they are activated. Your locks can even automatically open, helping you to quickly flee the house when you have an emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist

Family Room/Living Room Safety Checklist For Monroe

You’ll spend most of your time in the living room, so it may be the most reasonable room to start your home safety renovation. Popular items, like a big screen or stereo system, probably reside in your living room, making it an alluring area for burglars. Start with placing a motion sensor or security camera in your room, then take a look at some of these safety protocols:

  • Motion Sensors: By installing motion detectors, you’ll hear a shrieking noise whenever they detect suspicious movement within your family room. Look for motion sensors that aren’t set off by pets or you’ll have an alert each time your cat comes in for a bite of food.

  • Security Camera: An indoor security camera puts a visual on your living room. Watch constant feeds of everything so you can find out what’s going on through the mobile app. Or chat with your family in the room by using the two-way talk feature.

  • Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Protect those electronics and stop overloading your outlets with a surge protector. For added convenience, set up a smart plug with a surge protector built-in.

  • Entertainment Center Secured To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll want to bolt your bookshelves and entertainment center to the wall. This is especially crucial if your living room uses carpeting that might make heavy objects extra unbalanced.

  • Special Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your living room uses a sliding glass door that leads to a deck, patio, or porch, you get that the latch is usually worthless. Put in a special lock, like a bottom bar or locks that are located on the bottom and top of the frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Monroe

The kitchen has plenty of items that can add safety and security to your home. Many of these things should be simple to add and can be bought from the Target or Walmart:

  • Fire Extinguisher: Fire can come from from a neglected skillet or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always store a fire extinguisher at the ready for any stove or oven emergencies.

  • GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be standard on outlets where they’re by water to prevent an electric shock. That means the plugs around your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But if you don’t want your whole kitchen to turn off when one outlet surges, you’re going to want to use a separate GFCI on each outlet.

  • Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is handy in the kitchen if you have a gas stove and oven. If your gas lines leak, the CO detector will cause a loud siren and ping your monitoring agent.

  • Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety issue in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and cross-contamination from uncooked meat and other foods. Always keep cleaning wipes or a bleach spray to scrub off your surfaces before and after cooking.

  • Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in your fridge should stay at a chilly temperature to be ready to eat. If you accidently leave the refrigerator door ajar, then a constant beep will let you know so you can check the seal. Some fridges already have this installed, older models don’t, and you’ll have to pick up a fridge alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Monroe

Just because you don’t a lot of square footage in your bathroom doesn’t mean that there aren’t safety hazards. From flood detectors to medicine care, here are some safety improvements for your bathroom:

  • Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or tub can create an expensive amount of damage. Deal with water problems early with a flood detector and save a bunch of money from damage.

  • Non-slip Shower Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be devastating, causing pulled muscles, bruises, or sprained ankles. Make sure you prevent these hazards with a non-slip bath mat for after your bath or shower.

  • Non-slip Bathtub Stickies: Like a tiled floor, a bathtub can be a slippery surface to be on. It’s a good idea that every bathtub has some no-slip strips so your toes have a bumpy patch for stability.

  • Medicine Door Lock: If you have young kids or anyone with memory difficulties, you should take extra precautions regarding medicine. Safeguard your pills and syrups by using a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

  • GFCI Circuits: Similarly to the kitchen, you should also install a safer circuit interrupter outlet on each bathroom circuit. This will stop the flow of the electric current if water enters the outlet or you have a harmful spike from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Child's Bedroom Safety Checklist

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Monroe

Your kid’s bedroom should pair safety with manageability. If their window coverings or other things are safe but tricky to manage, then your children may get around the device with unsafe methods -- like shimmying up a bookshelf -- to open them. Try these easy, and safe, ideas:

  • Cord-Free Window Coverings: Safety professionals have designated window treatment cords a hidden problem for children and animals. Install motorized blinds or shades that your child can easily open and close through a remote control. Or better yet, pair your motorized treatments to your ADT security system so they can raise automatically when the sun comes up, and close in the evening for added darkness.

  • Tableside Security Camera: A security camera sitting on your child’s desk or dresser can double as a baby monitor that you can view from a mobile device. And when they need you, they can push the intercom talk feature included on the camera.

  • Outlet Plug Covers: While each outlet should use covers on them to protect your young children, this is especially important in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one room in your home where your children will most likely play by themselves without consistent additional supervision.

  • Window Safety Ladder: If you use bedrooms on above the first floor, then you should install a window safety ladder. These will let a child get out of their room even if the stairway or downstairs are engulfed in smoke and fire. Remember to go over how to use them one or two times a year.

  • Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s interesting to look at a toy box as a safety device, but you’ll get it if you’ve ever tramped on a building block in your socked feet. A uncluttered floor let your child have a quick way out during an emergency.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Monroe

Your master bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety items make you more responsive when you have an emergency event. After all, being startled awake by a loud siren can be quite a shock.

  • Smart Hub Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your bedside table helps you know what’s what that noise was without leaving your bed. You could always use your ADT smartphone app but, the large touchscreen is often better to use when you’re yawning and finding your bearings.

  • Personal Charging Station: We rely on our smartphones for so many things now alarms, web browsers, game machines, and sometimes even phones. The only problem is that a dead cell can cut us off from the outside world if something goes wrong. To keep it nice and ready, a an easy-to-use charging station becomes an important part of your nightstand.

  • Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A tiny light can be a beacon when you’re startled awake from a siren or unexpected noises. If you can’t fall asleep with a small nightlight, use a smart bulb in your fixtures. Then you can have light on-demand with a mobile device or voice direction.

  • Fireproof Safe: Stash your essential documents like social security cards, passports, or banking information in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a large one that is located out of the way or a slender portable lockbox that you can grab as you escape during a fire or break-in.

  • Heat Sensor: The issue with a master bedroom is that they can feel too hot or be cold because they sit across the house from the thermostat. A heat sensor will talk to your smart thermostat so you can have a comfortable, relaxing sleep at just the right climate.

Garage Safety Checklist

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Monroe

Most safety problems in the basement or garage are with your water heater or furnace. Seeing problems early can stave away more devastating disasters later on. So, as you walk around your basement or garage, pay attention to these crucial items:

  • Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Placing a flood alarm in back of your water heater and sump pump can stop you from finding a lake when you go into your basement or garage. Do you really want to lose your weekend bailing out water?

  • Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s beneficial to have a CO alarm in a place where a CO leak can happen. If you employ gas heat, you should put an alarm in the same room as your inbound pipes.

  • Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your water sensor finds a hot water heater leak or a burst pipe, then you will have to cap the main water line quickly. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from your phone. That’s helpful when you’re visiting relatives and see an emergency leak alert on your smartphone.

  • Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door up leads to all sorts of headaches. You can lose heat or air through that open door, and all sorts of animals or intruders can just walk in. A sensor will text you about a forgotten garage door and allow you to close it with your phone.

  • Temperature Sensor: A heat sensor in your basement or garage is a definite if you wonder about frozen pipes. The heat in these areas can be surprisingly different than the main part of the home, so you may need to maintain a close look on the temperature with the ADT mobile app.

Outside perimeter checklist

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Monroe

Your foliage, driveway, and front porch are just as important to secure as the rest of your house. Try this checklist to defend your perimeter:

  • Outdoor Security Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to guard against late night lurkers in your back yard. These cameras are nice in places where you might not have a view -- like a side yard or by the garage.

  • Low Bushes: High foliage can offer some solitude, but they also obscure you seeing into the yard and curb. Don’t give potential burglars a place to hide. Plus, high shrubs or foliage around your structure can obstruct gutters and invite pests.

  • ADT Signs And Decals: One of the biggest disincentives for a break-in is telling aspiring rogues that you use a monitored ADT security system. An ADT yard stick by the front door and a window decal will tell ne'er-do-wells that they might want to shove off to an unprotected target.

  • Motion Triggered Flood Lighting: Light is the best enemy to those who sneak around in the shadows. Motion-controlled lighting on your porch, garage, or deck can help scare possible intruders away. Lights also help you get inside when you get home late after work.

Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You Finish Your Home Safety Checklist for Monroe

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with non-security devices on your Monroe home safety checklist, we can offer a state-of-the-art home security system. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can customize the ideal system for your home’s needs. Just contact (318) 226-6496 and talk to a professional or complete the form below. Or customize your own system with our Security System Designer.