ADT® Authorized Dealer Serving Prescott, Flagstaff, & Northern Arizona

Home Safety Checklist For Prescott

Being safe in your residence should be your topmost concern. But are you forgetting a few big safety items? Look over this home safety checklist for Prescott and see where your house can use an update.

This guide begins with some whole-home safety ideas, and then we whittle it down on a room level. Then, phone (928) 888-9024 or send in the form below for more information.

Whole Home Safety Checklist

Whole Home Safety Checklist for Prescott

While you should take a room-by-room approach to home safety, there are some things that work for the whole-house approach. These items can talk to each other through a touchscreen hub, and can even respond to other things. You might also manage each of your home safety devices using a mobile app, like ADT Control:

  • Monitored Home Security System: Each one of your entryways should use a sensor that warns you to a break-in. As your alarm goes off, your monitoring expert responds to the call and quickly calls a first responder.

  • Smart Bulbs For Most Rooms: Of course, you can program your smart lights so your house is more eco-conscience. But smart lights can also help you remain safe throughout an emergency. Have your downstairs lights come on when a security alarm triggers to scare off intruders or light a path to a safe location.

  • Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in Prescott could save you 10%-15% in energy spending. Also, it can turn on an exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

  • Monitored Fire Alarms: It’s code that you should have a fire alarm on every level. You can improve your fire game by hanging a monitored fire alarm that detects excessive heat and smoke, and notifies your 24-hour monitoring experts when it thinks that there’s a fire.

  • Smart Locks: Every entryway that needs a deadbolt can use a smart lock. Now you may program numbered codes to family and friends and receive alerts to your smartphone when they are unlocked. Your doors can even automatically open, allowing you to quickly leave during a fire or other emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist

Family Room/Living Room Safety Checklist For Prescott

You’ll spend most of your time in your family room, so it may be the most reasonable place to start making your house more secure. Highly sought after items, like a big screen or video game console, probably sit in your family room, making it an alluring room for burglars. Begin with placing a motion detector or indoor security camera in there, then try all these suggestions:

  • Motion Detectors: By putting in motion detectors, you’ll hear a shrieking siren if they sense unusual motion in your living room. Look for motion sensors that filter out pet movements or you’ll have an alert every time your cat roams by for a midnight stroll.

  • Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts a visual on your living room. View live streams of the area so you can find out what’s going on through the mobile app. Or chat with family members in the room with the two-way talk feature.

  • Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Protect expensive electronics and quit overloading your circuits with a surge protector. For additional energy-efficiency, install a smart plug with surge protection in the unit.

  • Heavy Furniture Secured To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll want to bolt your bookshelves and entertainment center to a wall. This is especially important if your family room has rugs or carpet that could make objects extra unstable.

  • Enhanced Locks For Glass Doors: If your family room uses a sliding glass door that leads to a patio, deck, or outside porch, you can see that the lock is pretty flimsy. Install an enhanced lock, like a cross bar or locks that are located on the top and bottom of the frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Prescott

The kitchen has many items that should add comfort and safety to your home. Most of these items are also easy to add and can be bought from the Target or Walmart:

  • Fire Extinguisher: A fire can happen from an unwatched pot or an errant grease splatter. Always keep a fire extinguisher at the ready for any cooking emergencies.

  • GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be used on outlets where there’s nearby water to prevent an electric shock. That includes the plug outlets close to your kitchen counter and sink. Since 1987, 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’re going to want to use a separate GFCI per outlet.

  • Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is handy in the kitchen if you have a gas oven and stove. If your gas lines leak, the CO detector will cause a high-decibel sound and call your monitoring expert.

  • Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety hazard in the kitchen is actually bacteria and contamination that comes with raw meat and vegetables. Always store disinfectant wipes or spray to sanitize your counters when cooking.

  • Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The food items in the refrigerator need to remain at a constant temperature to be safe to use. If you accidently leave the refrigerator door open too long, then a small beep will remind you to close the door. Some appliances come with a pre-installed alarm, others won’t, and you’ll have to pick up a refrigerator alarm from online.

Bathroom Safety Checklist

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Prescott

Just because you may not have a bunch of space in your bathroom, you will still have safety hazards. From flood detectors to medicine care, here are some safety ideas for your bathroom:

  • Flood Sensors: A leaking sink or shower can create an expensive amount of water damage. Find a leaking pipe with a flood detector before they bring about hundreds to thousands of dollars in damage.

  • Textured Shower Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing cuts, bruises, or broken bones. You can prevent these problems with a textured bathroom mat for while you towel off.

  • No-slip Bathtub Stickers: Likewise, a bathtub can be a slippery surface to be on. Make sure each tub has some textured stickies so your toes have a textured patch to grip.

  • Medicine Door Latch: If you have little toddlers or a family member with memory complications, you have to take extra attention regarding prescription medicine. Secure 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 grounded GFCI outlet on every bathroom outlet. These will cut the electric current if they ever get wet or you have an unusual surge from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Child's Bedroom Safety Checklist

Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Prescott

A child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with accessibility. If their window coverings or other items are safe but hard to manage, then your kids may get around the device with risky methods -- like scale a chest of drawers -- to open them. Here are 5 easy, yet safe, ideas:

  • Cord-Free Window Coverings: Safety professionals have designated window treatment cords an unsuspecting problem for kids and pets. Install motorized blinds or shades that your child can easily control with a remote control. Or go state-of-the-art and link your motorized coverings to your ADT security system so they rise without anyone’s help when the sun comes up, and lower in the evening for an easier sleep.

  • Tableside Security Camera: A security camera perched on your kid’s dresser can double as an HD baby monitor that you can watch from a mobile device. And if they need you, they can push the 2-way talk button on the camera.

  • Plug Covers: While every outlet should use covers on them for your small children, this is doubly important in their bedroom. It’s the one room in your house where your children will most likely hang out by themselves without additional supervision.

  • Window Escape Ladder: If you use bedrooms on above the first floor, then you should have a window escape ladder. These can help your children escape even if the stairway or ground floor are on fire. Just remember to go over how to use them one or two times a year.

  • Toy Chest Or Low Bookshelves: It’s interesting to view a toy box as a safety device, but you’ll get it if you’ve ever tramped on a building block in your stocking feet. A uncluttered floor gives your child a quick way out if there’s a fire or break-in.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Prescott

The bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety components make you more responsive if there's an emergency. After all, being startled awake by a high-decibel siren can be confusing.

  • Home Security Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your nightstand gives you a sense of what’s going on without getting out of bed. You could also turn on your ADT phone app. However, the HD touchscreen may be easier to use to use when you’re bleary-eyed and confused.

  • Personal Charging Area: We depend on our cell phones for almost everything now GPS, news readers, time wasters, and sometimes even phones. However, a dead phone will cut us off from the outside world if during an emergency. To keep it nice and ready, a an easy-to-use charging station becomes an essential.

  • Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A tiny light helps ground you when you’re jolted awake from a siren or other loud sounds. If you have trouble falling asleep with an outlet light, install smart lights in your fixtures. Then you can get light anytime with a push of a button or vocal command.

  • Fireproof Safe: Keep your important documents like social security cards, medical information, or a bankbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your safe can be a bigger one that is located in your closet or a small portable safe that you can carry on your way out during an emergency event.

  • Heat Sensor: The issue with a master bedroom is that they can feel too stuffy or be chilly because they sit far from the thermostat. A temperature sensor can communicate to your smart thermostat so you can have a pleasant, peaceful sleep at the perfect temperature.

Garage Safety Checklist

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Prescott

Most safety needs in the garage or basement have to do with your water heater or HVAC system. Finding hazards before they start can stop more devastating problems in the future. So, as you walk around your garage or basement, pay attention to these crucial items:

  • Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Installing a flood sensor by your water heater and sump pump drain can prevent you from wading into a lake when you go into your basement or garage. Do you really want to waste your day getting rid of standing water?

  • Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s nice to install a carbon monoxide detector in an area where a natural gas leak can happen. If you have gas heat, you’ll want to put a detector in the same room as your inbound pipes.

  • WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood sensor finds a plumbing leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to cap the main water line immediately. With a remote shutoff valve, you can turn off your water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re visiting relatives and see a water leak alert on your smartphone.

  • Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door up causes all sorts of issues. You can lose heat through that large opening, and all sorts of animals or thieves can just saunder in. A remote sensor will alert you to an open garage door and allow you to close it remotely.

  • Heat Sensor: A heat alarm in your basement or garage is handy if you fret about your pipes freezing. The heat in these areas can be drastically different than the main part of the home, so you will need to have a closer eye on the temp by using your mobile app.

Outside perimeter checklist

Outside Safety Checklist for Prescott

Your yard, driveway, and front porch are just as important to make safe as the inside of your home. Use this checklist to make your outside safe:

  • Outdoor Camera: You can place outdoor cameras to alert you to late night lurkers in your yard. These cameras come in handy in areas where you might not have a window installed -- like around a cellar or by the garage door.

  • Low Shrubs: Overgrown bushes can give you some serenity, but they also block your line of sight of the outside. Don’t provide potential burglars an area to hide. Plus, tall bushes or foliage too close to your house can jam up gutters and invite ants and termites.

  • ADT Signs And Decals: One of the most popular disincentives for a thief is alerting aspiring burglars that you have a state-of-the-art security system. An ADT yard sign by the front door and a window cling will tell people that they might want to move on to an less prepared house.

  • Motion Controlled Flood Lights: Light is the greatest deterrent to those who skulk in the shadows. Motion-triggered flood lights on your porch, garage, or deck can help scare possible intruders away. Flood lights also help you get inside when you get home on those dark, winter nights.

Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Prescott

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with each household item on your Prescott home safety checklist, we can discuss a powerful home security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can customize the perfect system for your family’s needs. Simply call (928) 888-9024 to get started or send in the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.