Home Safety Checklist For Spokane

Staying safe in your house should be your largest priority. But are you overlooking a few useful safety components? Take this home safety checklist for Spokane and find out where your living space requires an update.

This guide starts with some whole-house safety ideas, and then we delve down to specific room ideas. Then, you can call (509) 240-8651 or complete the form below for more information.

Whole Home Safety Checklist for Spokane

While you will want to take a individual room method for home safety in Spokane, there are some items that work for the entire house approach. These devices can sync to each other through a touchscreen hub, and oftentimes respond to one another. You can also control each of your home safety components with a mobile security app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Security System: All your doors and windows should have a sensor that alerts you and your family to a break-in. As your alarm triggers, your monitoring center picks up the call and contacts a first responder.

Smart Bulbs For Each Room: Sure, you can program your smart lights to become more eco-conscience. But they can also allow you to keep safe in an emergency. Make your smart bulbs come on when an alarm goes off to frighten off burglars or brighten a path to a secure place.

Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Spokane can save you up to 15% in energy costs. Also, it can turn on the exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you should have a fire alarm on every floor. You can improve your fire preparedness by utilizing a monitored fire alarm that looks for unusual smoke and heat, and notifies your round-the-clock monitoring agents when it detects a fire.

Smart Lock For Every Door: Every doorway that needs a keyed lock can be made safer with a smart door lock. Now you may set key codes to family and friends and get notifications to your mobile device when they are used. Your locks can even automatically unlock, allowing you to quickly leave during a fire or dangerous situation.

Family Room/Living Room Safety Checklist For Spokane

You’ll hang out most in your living room, so it can be the most reasonable area to start making your house safer. Popular items, like a TV or stereo system, probably are located in your living room, making it a tempting room for thieves. Begin with installing a motion sensor or security camera by the doorway, then try the following suggestions:

Motion Detectors: By putting in motion detectors, you’ll get a high-decibel alarm anytime they detect unusual motion in your family room. The best devices are motion detectors that aren’t set off by pet movements or you’ll have a tripped alarm each time your pet passes through for a drink of water.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts a visual on your living room. View constant feeds of the area so you can find out what’s happening from the mobile app. Or speak with family members in the living room using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect all your electronics and quit overloading your outlets with a surge protector. For additional energy-efficiency, use a smart plug with surge protection included.
Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll want to attach your heavy furniture and entertainment center to a wall. This is especially important if your family room has carpet that might make objects extra wobbly.
Special Locks For Glass Doors: If your living room uses a glass door that leads to a backyard, deck, or screened-in porch, you probably know that the door lock is fairly worthless. Install an enhanced lock, like a bottom bar or locks that are located on the top and bottom of the opening.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Spokane

Your kitchen has plenty of items that should add safety to your home. Many of these things should be simple to add and should be found in the Target or Walmart:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can happen from an overfilled frying pan or a faulty burner. Always have a fire extinguisher at the ready for any cooking emergencies.
GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be used anywhere they’re by running water to ward off a deadly shock. That includes the plug outlets by your sink and kitchen counter. For 30 years, it’s been required to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But if you don’t want your whole kitchen to go dead when one outlet surges, you’ll want to use a separate GFCI on each outlet.

Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is needed in the kitchen if you have a gas oven and range. If your gas lines leak, the CO detector will cause a loud siren and contact your monitoring professional.
Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety issue in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and protein from uncooked meat and dairy. Always keep antiviral wipes or a bleach spray to scrub off your counters when cooking.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The items in the fridge need to stay at a cold temperature to stay ready to use. If you accidently leave the freezer or refrigerator door open too long, then an alarm beep will tell you to close the door. Some appliances already have an alarm, some do not, and you’ll have to pick up an external alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Spokane

Just because there’s not a lot of square footage in your bathroom, you will still have safety issues. From water problems to electric safety, here are a few safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking sink or bathtub can create extensive damage. Deal with water problems early with a flood detector and save yourself from renovating the whole bathroom.
Non-slip Bath Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be a painful occurrence, causing pulled muscles, gashed heads, or broken bones. You can steer clear from these problems with a non-slip bathroom mat for your wet feet.

Non-slip Bathtub Stickers: Another water hazard, a tub basin can be a slippery area to move in. Make sure each tub has some no-slip stickies so your feet have a bumpy patch to grip.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have curious children or anyone with memory lapses, you should take extra attention regarding prescription medicine. Secure your pills and syrups by getting a medicine cabinet with a child-proof lock.

GFCI Circuits: While installing better outlets in the kitchen, you need to also put in a surge protecting GFCI outlet on each bathroom circuit. These will stop the flow of the electricity if they ever get wet or you have an unusual jolt from an electric razor or hair dryer.

Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Spokane

Your child’s bedroom should balance safety with manageability. If their window coverings or other items are safe but tricky to use, then your kids may try unsafe activities -- like shimmying up a bookshelf -- to open them. Here are some simple, and safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Treatments: Safety experts have identified window treatment cords a hidden hazard for children and animals. Put in motorized blinds or shades that you can easily manage through a remote control. Or better yet, link your motorized treatments to your ADT security system so they can raise on a schedule when it’s time to get up, and lower in the evening for added darkness.

Tableside Security Camera: An indoor security camera placed on your kid’s desk can behave like a baby monitor that you can watch from your phone. And if they want something, they can use the intercom talk button on the camera.

Outlet Covers: While every outlet should have covers on them when you have young children, this is doubly needed in a child’s bedroom. It’s the main place in your house where your children will most likely play solo without parental supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you have bedrooms on above the first story, then you need to put in a window safety ladder. These should let a child get out of their room when the hallway or lower levels are blocked off with fire. Remember to rehearse how to use the ladder one or two times a year.

Toy Chest Or Low Shelves: It’s strange to look at a toy chest as a safety device, but you’ll see the light if you’ve ever tramped on a building block in your socked feet. A clutter-free floor gives your child a quick way out when there’s a fire or break-in.

Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Spokane

The bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety components make you more responsive when you experience an emergency. After all, being wrenched awake by a loud siren can be quite a shock.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your bedside table helps you know what’s what that noise was without getting out of bed. You could alternatively log into your ADT phone app. However, the large touchscreen is often easier to control to use when you’re bleary-eyed and disoriented.

Phone Charging Stand: We rely on our phones for so many things now alarm clocks, news readers, time wasters, and --legend has it-- even phones. The only problem is that a depleted phone in the middle of the night cuts us off from communications if there’s a problem. To keep it nice and ready, a charging station or cord becomes an important part of your nightstand.

Nightlight/Smart Lights: A tiny light can calm you when you’re bolted awake from an alarm or unexpected noises. If you have trouble falling asleep with a small nightlight, install smart lights in your fixtures. Then you can have light on-demand with a button push or voice direction.
Fireproof Lockbox: Stash your vital papers like insurance cards, stock certificates, or banking information in a fireproof lockbox. Your safe can be a large one that sits out of the way or a smaller handheld lockbox that you can carry when you leave during a fire or break-in.

Heat Sensor: The drawback with most bedrooms is that they might run too stuffy or be frigid since they are located far away from the thermostat. A temperature sensor will talk to your smart thermostat so you should have a comfortable, relaxing sleep at just the right temperature.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Spokane

Most safety needs in the basement or garage are with your pipes or furnace. Discovering problems at the source can stop larger emergencies in the future. So, as you look around your storage areas, take note of these critical items:

Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood alarm by your water heater or sump pump drain can stop you from discovering a mess when you walk into your basement or garage. It’s sure better than sifting through a heap of soggy storage boxes.

CO Detector: It’s nice to hang a carbon monoxide alarm in areas where a natural gas leak can occur. If you employ a gas furnace, you should install a detector in the same room as your HVAC unit.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your water sensor detects a hot water leak or a burst pipe, then you need to cut off the main water valve at once. With a remote shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re on vacation and get a water leak notification on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open leads to all sorts of problems. You can lose heat or air through that large opening, and rodents or thieves can just walk in. A remote sensor will alert you to a forgotten garage door and allow you to close it through the app.
Temperature Sensor: A heat alarm in your basement or garage is handy if you fret about frozen pipes. The heat in these rooms can be wildly different than the main part of the home, so you will want to keep a close look on the temperature with your mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Spokane

Your yard, drive, and front walk are just as crucial to make safe as the interior of your home. Use this checklist to defend your perimeter:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s arrived at the the front step before you answer it and welcome guests. View packages and look at video clips if they are taken.

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

Window Height Shrubbery: Tall shrubs can offer some solitude, but they also hinder your line of sight of the yard and curb. Don’t provide potential burglars a place to hide. Plus, tall bushes, shrubs or greenery against your home can jam up gutters and summon pests.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the biggest deterrents for a break-in is telling aspiring intruders that you use a monitored ADT security system. An ADT yard sign by the front door and a window decal will alert ne'er-do-wells that they ought to keep walking to an unprotected target.

Motion Activated Flood Lighting: Light is the best enemy to those who skulk in the shadows. Motion-controlled lights on your deck, patio, or garage can shoo possible intruders away. Flood lights also help you get inside when you get back home late after work.

Contact Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Spokane

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver non-security devices on your Spokane home safety checklist, we can install a customized home security system. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can personalize the best system for your home’s needs. Simply contact (509) 240-8651 and talk to a professional or fill out the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.