Home Safety Checklist For Manchester

Keeping safe in your home should be your topmost concern. But are you overlooking some useful safety components? Take this home safety checklist for Manchester and find out where your home can use some work.

This guide begins with some whole-house safety techniques, and then we whittle it down room-by-room. Then, contact (603) 932-7598 or fill out the form below for more information.

Essential Home Safety Checklist for Manchester

While you should use a room-to-room approach to home safety in Manchester, there are some items that are useful for each part of your home. These items can link together through a smart hub, and can even react to one another. You can also control each of your home safety equipment with a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your entryways should have a sensor that alerts you to forced entry. After your alarm trips, your monitoring center picks up the alert and quickly calls a first responder.

Smart Lighting For Each Room: Of course, you can schedule your smart lights to make your house more eco-conscience. But they can also allow you to stay safe during an emergency. Have your lights flash on when an alarm goes off to scare off robbers or light your way to a safe location.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Manchester can save you between 10%-15% in energy costs. It also can turn on your exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

Monitored Fire Alarms: It’s code that you need to have a smoke detector on each level. You can increase your fire game by utilizing a monitored fire alarm that detects both smoke and heat, and pings your 24-hour monitoring experts when it thinks that there’s a fire.

Smart Lock For Every Door: Every door that needs a keyed lock can upgrade to a smart lock. Now you may set numbered codes to each family member and receive alerts to your mobile device when the locks are activated. Your smart lock can even automatically turn off, allowing you to quickly flee the house during a fire or other emergency.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Manchester

You’ll hang out most in your living room, so it can be the most reasonable area to start making your house more secure. Popular items, like your TV or stereo system, probably sit in your living room, making it an alluring area for thieves. Begin with hanging a motion sensor or indoor camera in your room, then take a look at some of these suggestions:

Motion Sensors: By installing motion detectors, you’ll have a loud noise if they sense unusual movement within your family room. Look for motion detectors that ignore pets or you’ll have your sirens go off every time your cat comes in for a bite of food.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts an eye on your living room. Get constant feeds of the area so you can find out what’s happening through the mobile app. Or talk with your family in the family room by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Make sure you protect those electronics and stop overtaxing your circuits with a surge protector. For added comfort, set up a smart plug with anti-surge functionality built-in.
Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll need to bolt your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to the wall. This is extra important if your living room uses carpeting that could make furniture extra unstable.
Special Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your living room has a sliding door that opens to a backyard, deck, or porch, you can see that the latch is pretty worthless. Put in an enhanced lock, like a metal bar or locks that secures the door to the bottom and top of the frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Manchester

The kitchen has plenty of items that can provide safety to your home. Many of these things are also simple to add and can be found in the Target or Walmart:

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can come from from an unwatched pot or a faulty burner. Always keep a fire extinguisher at the ready for any cooking emergencies.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be installed on outlets where there’s nearby water to prevent an electric shock. That includes the plug outlets by your sink and kitchen counter. Since the late ‘80s, it’s been standard to have one circuit interrupter outlet per dedicated circuit. But if you don’t want every outlet to go dead when one outlet flips, you’ll want to have a separate GFCI per outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is needed in spaces that use natural gas for the stove and oven. If your gas burners spring a leak, the CO detector will emit a high-decibel siren and ping your monitoring center.
Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety issue in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and protein from uncooked meat and vegetables. Always keep cleaning wipes or a bleach spray to sanitize your counters before and after making a meal.
Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The food items in the fridge need to remain at a cold temperature to be ready to use. If you accidently leave the freezer or refrigerator door open, then a constant beep will remind you to check the seal. Some appliances come with this installed, some won’t, and you’ll have to buy an external alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Manchester

Just because there’s not a bunch of room in your bathroom there’s still safety hazards. From flood prevention to medicine care, here are five safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking toilet or shower can lead to a whole lot of damage. Deal with leaks early with a flood detector and save yourself from reflooring the whole bathroom.
Textured Shower Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be a painful occurrence, causing cuts, bruises, or broken bones. Make sure you avoid these issues with a textured bathroom mat for your wet feet.

No-slip Bathtub Stickies: Likewise, a bathtub can be a slippery place to be on. It’s a good idea that every bathtub has some no-slip strips so your toes have a rough patch to grip.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have young children or a family member with memory lapses, you need to take extra care regarding prescription medicine. Hide away your pills and syrups by using a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

GFCI Circuits: While installing better outlets in the kitchen, you should also use a safer GFCI outlet on every bathroom receptacle. This will stop the flow of the electric current if they ever get wet or there’s a harmful spike from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Manchester

A child’s bedroom should pair safety with simplicity. If their window coverings or other things are safe but tricky to manage, then your children may perform unsafe activities -- like shimmying up a dresser -- to use them. Try these easy, yet safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Treatments: Safety professionals have long called window treatment cords an unsuspecting danger for children and animals. Put in motorized treatments that kids can easily control with a remote control. Or better yet, pair your shades to your security system so they rise on a schedule when the sun comes up, and go down in the evening for an easier sleep.

Tableside Security Camera: A security camera placed on your child’s desk or dresser can act as an HD baby monitor that you can see with your phone. And when they need something, they can hit the intercom talk button that comes with the camera.

Plug Covers: While every outlet should use protective covers on them when you have small children, this is especially important in their bedroom. It’s the one place in your house where your toddler will most likely hang out solo without consistent additional supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you use bedrooms on an upper story, then you should put in a window escape ladder. These can let your children get out of their room when the hallway or downstairs are engulfed in smoke and fire. Just remember to go over how to use them one or two times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s strange to look at a toy box as a safety device, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever walked on an action figure in your bare feet. A uncluttered floor means a quick escape if there’s a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Manchester

Your main bedroom should be a refuge, so let your safety items give you peace of mind if you experience an emergency. After all, being jerked awake by a high-decibel buzzer can be disorienting.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your nightstand helps you know what’s going on without jumping out of bed. You could alternatively log into your ADT phone app but, the HD touchscreen is often easier to control to use when you’re bleary-eyed and finding your bearings.

Phone Charging Area: We use our cell phones for so much now GPS, news readers, games, and --legend has it-- even phones. But, an uncharged cell in the middle of the night cuts us off from the outside world if during an emergency. To keep it nice and ready, a charging cord or station becomes an essential.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A plug-in light helps ground you when you’re bolted awake from a fire alarm or other loud noises. If you won’t drift off to sleep with an outlet light, use a smart bulb in your bedroom and hall. Then you can have light on-demand with a push of a button or vocal command.
Fireproof Safe: Stash your essential papers like insurance cards, stock certificates, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof safe. Your lockbox can be a large one that sits out of the way or a smaller portable lockbox that you can grab on your way out during an emergency event.

Temperature Sensor: The problem with most bedrooms is that they tend to run too warm or be frigid because they are located far from the thermostat. A temperature sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you will have a comfortable, relaxing sleep at a wonderful climate.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Manchester

Most safety issues in the garage or basement have to do with your water or furnace. Seeing issues at the source can prevent larger problems in the future. So, as you take a look around your garage or basement, check over these safety items:

Water Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood sensor next to your water heater and sump pump drain can stop you from discovering a mess when you walk into your garage or basement. Do you really want to spend your night bailing out water?

CO Detector: It’s nice to install a CO detector in a place where a CO leak can happen. If you use gas heating, you’ll want to put a detector in the same area as your inbound pipes.
WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood sensor senses a hot water leak or a burst pipe, then you will want to cut off the main water line at once. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can block water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re out of town and see an emergency leak alert on your smartphone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door up causes all sorts of headaches. You can lose a bunch of heat through that gaping hole, and rodents or thieves can just saunder in. A sensor will notify you about a neglected garage door and lets you close it through the app.
Heat Sensor: A temperature alarm in your basement or garage is a definite if you fret about freezing pipes. The heat in these rooms can be drastically different than your main rooms of the house, so you may want to have a closer eye on the temperature by using the ADT mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Manchester

Your front yard, driveway, and front porch are just as imperative to make safe as the interior of your home. Try this checklist to make your outside safe:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s arrived at the front door before you answer it and welcome visitors. See package deliveries and record video clips if they are taken.

Outdoor Camera: You can install outdoor cameras to guard against late night lurkers in your back yard. These cameras come in handy in places where you may not have a view -- like a side yard or by the garage.

Window Height Shrubbery: High shrubs can offer some serenity, but they also block your view of the outside. Don’t offer potential thieves a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall shrubs or foliage around your home can clog gutters and bring in ants and termites.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the most popular disincentives for home intrusion is advertising to would-be intruders that you own a state-of-the-art home security system. An ADT yard sign by the stoop and a window cling will show lurkers that they might want to keep walking to an less prepared house.

Motion Activated Outside Lights: Light is the largest obstacle to people who lurk in the dark. Motion-activated lighting on your deck, patio, or garage can frighten lurkers away. Lights also help you see the walk when you get back home late at night.

Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Manchester

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with each household item on your Manchester home safety checklist, we can install a state-of-the-art home security system. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can customize the ideal system for your house’s needs. Just call (603) 932-7598 to get started or complete the form below. Or personalize your own solution with our Security System Designer.