Home Safety Checklist For Binghamton

Keeping safe in your home should be your topmost responsibility. But are you missing one or two key safety components? Take this home safety checklist for Binghamton and discover where your house can use greater attention.

This guide starts with five whole-house safety items, and then we whittle it down to specific room ideas. Then, phone (607) 204-9052 or complete the form below to get your house ready.

General Home Safety Checklist for Binghamton

While you should use a room-to-room approach to home safety, there are a few methods that are practical for the whole home. These items can sync with one another through a touchscreen hub, and often can respond to other components. You can also control all your home safety devices with a mobile security app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your entryways should employ a sensor that warns you to forced entry. When your alarm triggers, your monitoring center answers the alert and quickly calls emergency personnel.

Smart Bulbs For Every Major Room: Sure, you can program your smart lights to make your house more energy-efficient. But they can also allow you to remain safe during an emergency. Have your smart bulbs flash on when a sensor trips to scare off intruders or light the way out to a outside place.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Binghamton can save you up to 15% in gas and electric spending. It also can turn on an exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Fire Detectors: At the very least, you will have a smoke detector on every level of your house. You can increase your fire preparedness by installing a monitored fire detector that looks for unusual heat and smoke, and pings your 24-hour monitoring team when it thinks that there’s a fire.

Smart Lock For Every Door: Every door that utilizes a deadbolt can upgrade to a smart lock. Now you can program numbered codes to friends and family and get notifications to your mobile device when your locks are used. Your doors can even automatically unlock, helping you to quickly leave if you have a fire or other emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist For Binghamton

You’ll hang out most in the living room, so it may be the best room to kick off your home safety renovation. Popular items, like a TV or video games, usually are located in your living room, making it a tempting room for thieves. Start with hanging a motion detector or security camera in your room, then take a look at all these ideas:

Motion Detectors: By putting in motion detectors, you’ll hear a high-decibel siren anytime they sense unexpected motion within your family room. Look for motion sensors that aren’t set off by pets or you’ll see a tripped alarm every time your pet passes through for a bite of food.
Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera offers a constant watch on your family room. Get constant streams of everything so you can know what’s happening from the mobile app. Or speak with your kids in the room with the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Protect expensive electronics and quit overloading your electric system with a surge protector. For additional comfort, use a smart plug with surge protection in the unit.
Heavy Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll need to bolt your bookshelves and entertainment center to the wall. This is extra crucial if your living room uses rugs or carpet that could make heavy objects extra unstable.
Enhanced Locks For Glass Doors: If your family room has a sliding door that leads to a backyard, deck, or outside porch, you know that the lock is pretty worthless. Put in a special lock, like a bottom bar or locks that are located on the bottom and top of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Binghamton

The kitchen has many items that should provide safety to your home. Many of these items should be easy to add and should be purchased from the a retail store:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can spring up from an unwatched skillet or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always store a fire extinguisher in close reach for any stove or oven mishaps.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be standard on outlets where there’s nearby running water to lessen the chance of a deadly shock. That means the plugs close to your sink and kitchen counter. Since 1987, it’s been required to have one GFCI per circuit. But if you don’t want all your outlets to turn off when one outlet trips, you’re going to want to use a separate GFCI per outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is recommended for the kitchen if you use gas for the oven and stove. If your gas lines malfunction, the carbon monoxide detector will emit a loud, buzzing noise and call your monitoring professional.
Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety issue in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and protein from raw meat and other foods. Always have cleaning wipes or spray to scrub off your counters before and after making a meal.
Refrigerator Alarm: The items in your fridge should stay at a constant temperature to stay safe to eat. If you leave the refrigerator door ajar, then an alarm beep will let you know so you can check the seal. Some fridges already have an alarm, others won’t, and you’ll have to get a fridge alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Binghamton

Just because you don’t a bunch of room in your bathroom, you will still have safety hazards. From water problems to anti-surge outlets, here are some safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking toilet or bathtub can create an expensive amount of water damage. Get alerted early about leaks with a flood detector and save yourself from redoing the whole bathroom.
Textured Shower Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be devastating, causing cuts, gashed heads, or broken bones. Or prevent these hazards with a non-slip bath mat for your wet feet.

Textured Bathtub Strips: Another water hazard, a bathtub can be a slick place to be on. Make sure each has some textured stickers so your feet have a rough patch for stability.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have curious kids or anyone with memory complications, you should take additional care regarding prescription medicine. Safeguard your pills and syrups by getting a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Similarly to the kitchen, you need to also install a surge protecting GFCI outlet on each bathroom circuit. This will shut off the electricity if water enters the outlet or there’s a harmful surge from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Binghamton

Your kid’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with accessibility. If their window coverings or other items are safe but tricky to operate, then your kids may perform risky methods -- like scale a dresser -- to open them. Here are some simple, and safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Coverings: Safety agencies have long called window treatment cords a secret danger for children and animals. Put in motorized blinds or shades that kids can easily manage with a remote control. Or better yet, pair your shades to your ADT security system so they can raise automatically when it’s time to get up, and close at bedtime for an easier sleep.

Indoor Security Camera: A camera perched on your kid’s desk or dresser can act like a baby monitor that you can see with a mobile device. And if they need something, they can use the two-way talk feature that comes with the camera.

Outlet Covers: While each outlet should use outlet safety caps on them to protect your young children, this is especially urgent in their bedroom. It’s the one place in your home where your child will most likely hang out by themselves without constant adult supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you have bedrooms on above the first level, then you will want to install a window safety ladder. These will help a young one get out of their room when the stairs or downstairs are blocked off with fire. Just remember to rehearse how to employ the ladder at least twice a year.

Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s strange to think about a toy chest as a safety item, 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 retreat when there’s a fire or break-in.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Binghamton

The bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety devices give you peace of mind when you have an emergency. After all, being startled awake by a high-decibel alarm can be disorienting.

Home Security Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your bedside table helps you know what’s happening without getting out of bed. You could also use your ADT phone app but, the touchscreen may be faster to use when you’re bleary-eyed and disoriented.

Device Charging Stand: We use our phones for almost everything now alarms, internet searches, game machines, and maybe even phones. The only problem is that a dead phone will cut us off from communications if something goes wrong. To keep it nice and ready, a an easy-to-use charging station becomes an essential.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A tiny light helps ground you when you’re bolted awake from a fire alarm or unexpected noises. If you have trouble falling asleep with a small nightlight, install a smart bulb in your bedroom and hall. Then you can control light on-demand with a mobile device or voice direction.
Fireproof Lockbox: Store your essential papers like social security cards, medical information, or banking information in a fireproof safe. This can be a large one that sits in your closet or a slender handheld safe that you can snatch when you leave during a fire or break-in.

Heat Sensor: The drawback with most bedrooms is that they might run too hot or be chilly because they sit far from the thermostat. A temperature sensor will talk to your smart thermostat so you should have a comfortable, restful sleep at just the right climate.

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Binghamton

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

Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Placing a flood sensor next to your water heater and sump pump drain can stop you from finding a lake when you go into your garage or basement. The last you need is to lose the weekend drying your floor and salvaging all those storage boxes.

Carbon Monoxide Alarm: It’s smart to have a CO alarm in an area where a CO leak can happen. If you use a gas furnace, you’ll want to install a detector in the same place as your HVAC unit.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood alarm senses a hot water heater leak or a burst pipe, then you will have to cap the primary water line quickly. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can block water flow from any mobile device. That’s perfect when you’re on vacation and see an emergency leak alert on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage open leads to all types of headaches. You can lose heat through that gaping hole, and critters or lurkers can just walk in. A remote sensor will text you about an open garage door and allow you to close it with your phone.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature alarm in your basement or garage is handy if you wonder about your pipes freezing. The heat in these rooms can be drastically different than the rest of the house, so you may want to have a close look on the temp through your security mobile app.

Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for Binghamton

Your landscaping, drive, and front step are just as important to make safe as the interior of your house. Try this checklist to make your outside safe:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s knocking on the door before you answer it and chat with guests. View deliveries and look at video clips if they are taken.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to notify you about unusual lurkers in your yard. These security cameras are especially useful in places where you may not have a window installed -- like around a cellar or by the garage.

Window Height Shrubbery: High shrubs can give you some solitude, but they also obscure your view of the yard. Don’t give potential thieves a dark shadow to hide. Plus, large shrubs or trees around your house can jam up gutters and invite ants and termites.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the most popular discouragements for a thief is advertising to aspiring rogues that you use a state-of-the-art ADT security system. An ADT yard sign by the front door and a window cling will alert people that they ought to shove off to an easier score.

Motion Activated Outside Light Fixtures: Light is the biggest obstacle to people who skulk in the shadows. Motion-controlled lights on your deck, porch, or garage can help scare lurkers away. Lights also help you work the locks when you come back home late after work.

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

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver each household item on your Binghamton home safety checklist, we can bring you a powerful security system. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can personalize the ideal system for your home’s needs. Simply phone (607) 204-9052 and talk to a professional or fill out the form below. Or personalize your own ADT system with our Security System Designer.