Home Safety Checklist For Nashville

Being safe and secure in your home should be your topmost responsibility. But are you overlooking one or two big safety components? Use this home safety checklist for Nashville and find out where your home needs greater attention.

This guide starts with five whole-house safety items, and then we delve down to specific room ideas. Then, you can call (615) 257-7896 or send in the form below to talk to a security professional.

Essential Home Safety Checklist for Nashville

While you may want to employ a room-to-room approach to home safety, there are some items that work for the whole-house approach. These items can sync with one another through a smart hub, and oftentimes react to other components. You can also manage all your home safety devices with a mobile app, like ADT Control:

Monitored Security System: Each one of your windows and doors should employ a sensor that alerts your family to intrusion. As the alarm goes off, your monitoring agent answers the alert and immediately contacts a first responder.

Smart Lighting For Each Room: Sure, you can program your smart lights to become more energy-efficient. But smart lights can also help you stay safe in an emergency. Make your lights flash on when a security alarm trips to frighten off burglars or brighten your way to a safe place.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Nashville should save you up to 15% in energy costs. But it also can start an exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you need to have a fire detector on every level of your house. You can increase your fire game by hanging a monitored fire detector that looks for unusual smoke and heat, and notifies your round-the-clock monitoring team when it detects a fire.

Smart Locks: Every doorway that needs a keyed lock can upgrade to a smart lock. Now you can preset codes to family and friends and get texts to your phone when they are unlocked. Your locks can even automatically open, letting you quickly leave if you have an emergency.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Nashville

You’ll hang out most in your family room, so it’s the most reasonable area to start making your house more secure. Popular items, like a big screen or stereo system, probably sit in your family room, making it an alluring space for thieves. Start with placing a motion detector or security camera by the doorway, then try the following safety protocols:

Motion Sensors: By hanging motion sensors, you’ll hear a shrieking siren whenever they detect suspicious movement within your family room. The best devices are motion sensors that aren’t set off by a dog or cat or you’ll have a tripped alarm every time your cat comes in for a drink of water.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera offers a constant watch on your living room. View constant feeds of the area so you can know what’s downstairs through the mobile app. Or speak with family members in the room by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect all your electronics and quit overburdening your electric system with a surge protector. For extra comfort, install a smart plug with anti-surge functionality included.
Entertainment Center Attached To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll need to attach your heavy furniture and entertainment center to your wall. This is extra important if your living room uses carpet that could make furniture extra wobbly.
Special Locks For Glass Doors: If your family room has a sliding door that leads to a patio, deck, or screened-in porch, you already know that the lock is usually flimsy. Install a special lock, like a cross bar or locks that bolt to the top and bottom of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Nashville

Your kitchen has many items that can bring safety and security to your home. Many of these things are also easy to add and can be bought from the a retail store:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can happen from an overfilled pot or an errant grease splatter. Always store a fire extinguisher at hand for any cooking mishaps.
GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be used everywhere they’re close to water to lessen the chance of an electric shock. That means the plug outlets by your sink and kitchen counter. For 30 years, it’s been code to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But if you don’t want all your outlets to go dead when one outlet trips, you’ll want to use a single GFCI for every outlet.

Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A CO detector is needed in kitchens that employ a gas oven and stove. If your gas appliances leak, the carbon monoxide detector will emit a loud, buzzing sound and ping your monitoring agent.
Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety problem in the kitchen is actually bacteria and cross-contamination from uncooked meat and vegetables. Always have antiviral wipes or a bleach spray to sanitize your surfaces after making a meal.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in the refrigerator have to stay at a constant temperature to stay healthy to consume. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door ajar, then an alarm beep will remind you to check the seal. Some appliances come with a pre-installed alarm, some don’t, and you’ll have to pick up an external alarm from online.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Nashville

Just because you don’t a bunch of room in your bathroom doesn’t mean that there aren’t safety hazards. From water problems to anti-surge outlets, here are a few safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Sensors: A leaking toilet or bathtub can cause extensive destruction. Deal with pooling water early with a flood detector and save a bunch of money from damage.
Textured Bath Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be painful, causing pulled muscles, sore joints, or broken bones. Make sure you prevent these problems with a textured bath mat for after your bath or shower.

No-slip Bathtub Stickers: Likewise, a tub basin can be a slick surface to move in. Make sure each tub has some textured stickers so your feet have a textured patch for stability.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have little toddlers or someone with memory lapses, you have to take additional attention regarding prescribed medicine. Safeguard your pills and syrups by using a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

GFCI Circuits: Just like the kitchen, you will have to also use a surge protecting GFCI outlet on every bathroom receptacle. This will stop the flow of the electric current if water splashes on them or they experience a harmful spike from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Nashville

Your kid’s bedroom should balance safety with accessibility. If their window treatments or other items are safe but tricky to use, then your child may perform unsafe methods -- like climb a dresser -- to use them. Try these simple, yet safe, ideas:

Cordless Window Treatments: Safety professionals have designated cords from shades and blinds a hidden problem for kids and pets. Use motorized treatments that you can easily manage through a remote. Or better yet, pair your shades to your ADT smart hub so they open automatically at dawn, and go down at night for extra privacy.

Tableside Security Camera: An indoor security camera perched on your kid’s dresser can double as a high tech baby monitor that you can view with a smartphone. And when they want you, they can hit the two-way talk feature included on the camera.

Outlet Covers: While each outlet should use outlet safety caps on them when you have young children, this is especially important in their bedroom. It’s the one place in your home where your toddler will most likely be solo without adult supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you use bedrooms on the second level, then you should install a window fire ladder. These should help a young one escape in case the stairway or ground floor are engulfed in smoke and fire. Just remember to rehearse how to employ them a few times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Bookshelves: It’s weird to look at a toy chest as a safety item, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever walked on a building block in your stocking feet. A uncluttered floor means a quick retreat if there’s a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Nashville

Your bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety items make life easier when you experience an emergency event. After all, being wrenched awake by a loud alarm can be confusing.

Home Security Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your bedside table lets you see what’s what that noise was without leaving your bed. You could also turn on your ADT smartphone app. However, the HD touchscreen may be easier to manage to use when you’re coming out of sleep and disoriented.

Device Charging Area: We use our smartphones for so many things now alarms, news readers, time wasters, and sometimes even phones. However, a depleted device in the middle of the night cuts us off from communications if there’s a problem. To make sure your phone always works, a an easy-to-use charging station becomes an essential.

Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A plug-in light can calm you when you’re startled awake from a siren or other loud sounds. If you have trouble falling asleep with a nightlight, put in smart bulbs in your bedroom. Then you can control light simply with a mobile device or voice command.
Fireproof Lockbox: Keep your essential papers like birth certificates, medical information, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof safe. This can be a big one that camps out in your closet or a small portable lockbox that you can carry when you leave during a fire or break-in.

Temperature Sensor: The drawback with a master bedroom is that they might be too stuffy or be chilly since they sit far away from the thermostat. A temperature sensor can talk to your smart thermostat so you will have a nice, relaxing sleep at a wonderful temperature.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Nashville

Most safety problems in the basement or garage are with your water or furnace. Finding issues before they start can stave away larger problems later on. So, as you walk around your storage areas, pay attention to these crucial items:

Flood Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Placing a flood sensor next to your water heater and sump pump can stop you from discovering a lake when you go into your basement or garage. The last you need is to waste the weekend bailing out water and going through all those storage boxes.

CO Detector: It’s beneficial to hang a CO alarm in areas where a gas leak can occur. If you have gas heat, you’ll want to install an alarm in the same area as your inbound pipes.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector finds a hot water leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to cap the main water line quickly. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can block water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s helpful when you’re out of town and get an emergency leak notification on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open leads to all sorts of issues. You can waste HVAC energy through that large opening, and rodents or thieves can just wander in. A sensor will text you about a forgotten garage door and lets you lower it remotely.
Temperature Sensor: A heat alarm in your basement or garage is essential if you wonder about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these areas can be drastically different than the main part of the home, so you may want to keep a closer eye on the temp through the ADT mobile app.

Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for Nashville

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

Doorbell Camera: See who’s at the door before you answer it and welcome visitors. See package deliveries and record video clips if they vanish off the step.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can install outdoor cameras to notify you about late night lurkers in your yard. These cameras come in handy in areas where you may not have a window -- like a side yard or by the driveway.

Low Bushes: High foliage can offer some serenity, but they also obscure your line of sight of the outside. Don’t give potential thieves a dark shadow to hide. Plus, tall shrubs or foliage around your structure can jam up gutters and invite bugs.
ADT Signs And Decals: One of the biggest disincentives for home intrusion is alerting potential intruders that you use a monitored home security system. An ADT yard stick by the front door and a window cling will alert lurkers that they should shove off to an easier score.

Motion Controlled Porch Lights: Light is the largest obstacle to people who lurk in the dark. Motion-activated lighting on your deck, porch, or garage can help scare lurkers away. Flood lights also help you work the locks when you get back home late after work.

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

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install non-security devices on your Nashville home safety checklist, we can discuss a powerful home security system. With alarms, security cameras, and home automation, we can install the perfect system for your home’s needs. Just phone (615) 257-7896 and talk to a professional or complete the form below. Or personalize your own system with our Security System Designer.