Home Safety Checklist For St. Louis

Keeping safe and secure in your home should be your largest responsibility. But are you missing some key safety components? Use this home safety checklist for St. Louis and discover where your home requires some work.

We give you some whole-home safety ideas, and then we whittle it down to specific room ideas. Then, you can call (314) 274-9817 or fill out the form below to talk to a security agent.

General Home Safety Checklist for St. Louis

While you will want to use a room-to-room process for home safety, there are a few things that work for the whole-house approach. These components can sync with one another through a smart hub, and oftentimes respond to other things. You might also control all your home safety devices through a mobile security app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: Each one of your entryways should have a sensor that warns your family to forced entry. As the alarm triggers, your monitoring team picks up the call and immediately sends emergency personnel.

Smart Lighting For Each Room: Of course, you can set your smart bulbs to become more eco-conscience. But smart lights can also help you remain safe throughout an emergency. Make your smart bulbs flip on when a security alarm goes off to frighten off intruders or brighten a path to a outside area.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in St. Louis can save you up to 15% in energy spending. Also, it can flip on your exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

Monitored Fire Detectors: At the very least, you have a fire alarm on every floor. You can improve your fire preparedness by installing a monitored fire alarm that looks for unusual heat and smoke, and notifies your 24-hour monitoring team when it thinks that there’s a fire.

Smart Locks: Every doorway that uses a keyed lock can be made safer with a smart door lock. Now you may set numbered codes to family and friends and get texts to your smartphone when the locks are activated. Your doors can even automatically unlock, letting you quickly flee the house during a fire or other emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist For St. Louis

You’ll spend most of your time in your family room, so it can be the most reasonable place to improve your home safety. Electronics, like a TV or video games, usually are located in your family room, making it a popular room for burglars. Begin with installing a motion sensor or security camera in your room, then continue on with the following suggestions:

Motion Sensors: By installing motion detectors, you’ll have a shrieking alarm whenever they detect unexpected motion in your living room. Look for motion sensors that ignore a dog or cat or you’ll get your sirens go off each time your pet comes in for a drink of water.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera offers an eye on your living room. View live feeds of the area so you can see what’s going on without leaving your bed. Or chat with family members when they get home from playing by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect expensive electronics and quit overburdening your electric system with a surge protector. For added convenience, use a smart plug with surge protection in the unit.
Entertainment Center Attached To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll want to secure your bookshelves and entertainment center to a wall. This is extra important if your living room has carpeting that can make furniture extra unbalanced.
Enhanced Locks For Sliding Doors: If your living room uses a glass door that slides out to a deck, patio, or porch, you get that the latch is fairly thin. Use a custom lock, like a bottom bar or small locks that bolt to the bottom and top of the frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For St. Louis

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

Fire Extinguisher: Fire can come from from an overfilled frying pan or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always keep a fire extinguisher at the ready for any kitchen mishaps.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be standard everywhere they’re by water to ward off an electric shock. That means the outlets around your sink and kitchen counter. Since the late ‘80s, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, try to use a single GFCI per outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is needed in the kitchen if you use gas for the oven and stove. If your gas burners leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a high-decibel siren and ping your monitoring expert.
Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The largest safety problem in the kitchen is actually bacteria and cross-contamination from uncooked meat and dairy. Always keep antiviral wipes or an antibacterial spray to sanitize your area when cooking.
Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The food items in your fridge should remain at a constant temperature to be healthy to eat. If you accidently leave the freezer or refrigerator door ajar, then an alarm beep will remind you to close the door. Some appliances already have this installed, others do not, and you’ll have to get a refrigerator alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For St. Louis

Just because there’s not a lot of space in your bathroom, you will still have safety concerns. From flood prevention to electric safety, here are five safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or tub can create a whole lot of damage. Discover a water problem with a flood detector before they generate hundreds to thousands of dollars in ruined floors, walls, and fixtures.
No-slip Bathroom Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be devastating, causing cuts, gashed heads, or broken bones. Make sure you avoid these problems with a no-slip bathroom mat for your wet feet.

Textured Bathtub Stickers: Like a tiled floor, a tub can be a slick place to be on. Make sure every has some non-slip stickers so your toes have a bumpy patch to gain traction.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have curious toddlers or anyone with memory difficulties, you need to take extra precautions regarding prescription medicine. Hide away your pills and syrups by using a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

GFCI Circuits: Similarly to the kitchen, you need to also install a surge protecting circuit interrupter outlet on every bathroom receptacle. These will shut off the electricity if water splashes on them or they experience an unusual surge from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For St. Louis

A child’s bedroom should pair safety with accessibility. If their window treatments or other things are safe but tricky to use, then your children may get around the device with risky methods -- like shimmying up a chest of drawers -- to touch them. Here are 5 easy, and safe, ideas:

No Cord Window Coverings: Safety agencies have identified cords from shades and blinds a hidden danger for kids and pets. Install motorized shades that you can easily control through a remote. Or even better, link your motorized coverings to your security system so they rise automatically at dawn, and lower at night for extra privacy.

Indoor Security Camera: A security camera perched on your kid’s desk or dresser can double as a baby monitor that you can view with a mobile device. And when they need your help, they can hit the two-way talk button that comes with the camera.

Outlet Covers: While each outlet should use protective covers on them for your small children, this is doubly needed in their bedroom. It’s the one room in your home where your children will most likely be by themselves without constant additional supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you have bedrooms on an upper level, then you should put in a window escape ladder. These should help a child escape even if the stairs or lower levels are blocked off with fire. Make sure to practice how to unfurl them one or two times a year.

Toy Chest Or Low Shelves: It’s strange to look at a toy box 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 means a quick way out when there’s an emergency.

Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For St. Louis

Your main bedroom should be a refuge, so let your safety items make you more responsive if you have an emergency event. After all, being wrenched awake by a high-decibel alarm can be quite a shock.

Home Security Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your bedside table lets you see what’s what that noise was without jumping out of bed. You could also log into your ADT mobile app but, the HD touchscreen is often faster to use when you’re coming out of sleep and disoriented.

Phone Charging Stand: We rely on our phones for so many things now alarm clocks, news readers, games, and --legend has it-- even phones. The only problem is that an uncharged device 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 important part of your nightstand.

Nightlight/Smart Lights: A plug-in light can calm you when you’re jolted awake from a fire alarm or unexpected noises. If you have trouble falling asleep with a small nightlight, install smart lights in your bedroom. Then you can control light on-demand with a push of a button or voice direction.
Fireproof Safe: Store your essential papers like insurance cards, medical information, or a bankbook in a fireproof safe. Your safe can be a bigger one that is located in a corner or a small portable lockbox that you can grab on your way out during a fire or other emergency.

Heat Sensor: The issue with a master bedroom is that they can feel too warm or be frigid since they sit far from the thermostat. A heat sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you should have a nice, peaceful sleep at a wonderful climate.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For St. Louis

Most safety needs in the basement or garage deal with your pipes or furnace. Discovering issues early can prevent larger emergencies in the future. So, as you look around your garage or basement, take note of these safety items:

Flood Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Placing a flood alarm by your water heater and sump pump drain can prevent you from wading into a lake when you step into your garage or basement. It’s much better than sifting through a bunch of soggy storage boxes.

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s beneficial to hang a carbon monoxide alarm in a place where a natural gas leak can occur. If you use gas heating, you should put an alarm in the same room as your unit.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your water detector finds a hot water leak or a busted pipe, then you will want to shut off the primary water valve immediately. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re visiting relatives and receive a water leak notification on your smartphone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage up causes all sorts of problems. You can waste heat through that gaping hole, and rodents or thieves can just wander in. A remote sensor will notify you about a forgotten garage door and lets you lower it through the app.
Temperature Sensor: A heat alarm in your garage or basement is essential if you wonder about freezing pipes. The heat in these rooms can be wildly different than the main part of the house, so you will need to have a close look on them through the ADT mobile app.

Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for St. Louis

Your foliage, driveway, and front walk are just as important to defend as the inside of your home. Try this checklist to create a safe outside:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s knocking on the the front step before you open it and welcome visitors. Get a visual on package deliveries and look at video clips if they are taken.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can place outdoor cameras to notify you about suspicious lurkers in your yard. These cameras are especially useful in places where you might not have a view -- like a side yard or by the driveway.

Low Shrubs: Tall bushes can give you some serenity, but they also block your line of sight of the yard and curb. Don’t give potential thieves a place to hide. Plus, high shrubs or greenery around your structure can obstruct gutters and bring in bugs.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the largest deterrents for a break-in is telling would-be rogues that you have a monitored ADT security system. An ADT yard stick by the front door and a window cling will show people that they might want to keep walking to an unprotected house.

Motion Controlled Outside Light Fixtures: Light is the biggest obstacle to people who sneak around in the dark. Motion-activated lighting on your deck, patio, or garage can help scare lurkers away. Lights also help you see the walk when you get back home on those dark, winter nights.

Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for St. Louis

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with every item on your St. Louis home safety checklist, we can bring you a customized home security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can install the perfect system for your home’s needs. Simply contact (314) 274-9817 and talk to a professional or complete the form below. Or customize your own system with our Security System Designer.