Home Safety Checklist For San Bernadino

Being safe in your house should be your number one priority. But are you forgetting a few big safety components? Use this home safety checklist for San Bernadino and discover where your home requires an update.

This guide begins with some whole-home safety techniques, and then we delve down on a room level. Then, phone (909) 247-3368 or fill out the form below to speak to a security expert.

Basic Home Safety Checklist for San Bernadino

While you should use a room-by-room method for home safety, there are some things that are practical for each part of your home. These components can talk to each other through a wireless hub, and can even react to one another. You might also manage every one of your home safety equipment with a smartphone app, such as ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: All your windows and doors should use a sensor that alerts you and your family to forced entry. After your alarm goes off, your monitoring team responds to the alert and sends the police or fire department.

Smart Lights For Each Room: Of course, you can program your smart lighting so your home is more eco-conscience. But smart lights can also allow you to stay safe throughout an emergency. Have your downstairs lights flash on when a security alarm goes off to frighten off intruders or brighten a path to a safe location.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in San Bernadino can save you between 10%-15% in utility spending. It also can start an exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you will have a fire alarm on every floor. You can improve your fire game by utilizing a monitored fire alarm that detects both heat and smoke, and alerts your round-the-clock monitoring agents when it detects a fire.

Smart Door Locks: Every entryway that utilizes a deadbolt can use a smart door lock. Now you may assign numbered codes to family and friends and get texts to your phone when they are used. Your smart lock can even automatically open, letting you quickly leave when you have a fire or other emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist For San Bernadino

You’ll spend most of your time in your living room, so it can be the perfect room to start making your home safer. Electronics, like a big screen or video games, usually reside in your living room, making it a tempting room for burglars. Start with hanging a motion sensor or security camera in your room, then try some of these suggestions:

Motion Detectors: By putting in motion sensors, you’ll hear a high-decibel siren anytime they detect unusual movement in your family room. The best devices are motion sensors that filter out pets or you’ll see an alert each time your pet passes through for a drink of water.
Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera puts a visual on your living room. View real-time feeds of the area so you can know what’s happening from the mobile app. Or talk with your kids when they come home from playing with the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Protect all your electronics and stop overloading your electric system with a surge protector. For added convenience, use a smart plug with anti-surge functionality included.
Heavy Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll need to attach your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to the wall. This is extra important if your living room uses carpeting that can make heavy objects extra wobbly.
Special Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your living room uses a sliding glass door that opens to a deck, patio, or porch, you probably get that the latch is fairly flimsy. Put in a special lock, like a cross bar or locks that bolt to the bottom and top of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For San Bernadino

Your kitchen has plenty of items that can provide safety to your home. Many of these things are also easy to add and should be bought from the Target or Walmart:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can come from from an overfilled pot or a faulty burner. Always store a fire extinguisher at the ready for any cooking mishaps.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be standard on outlets where they’re close to running water to lessen the chance of a deadly shock. That means the plugs around your sink and kitchen counter. For 30 years, it’s been standard to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But if you don’t want your whole kitchen to turn off when one outlet surges, try to install a separate GFCI per outlet.

Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is recommended for spaces that employ natural gas for the oven and stove. If your gas lines spring a leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a high-decibel sound and ping your monitoring professional.
Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety problem in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and protein from uncooked meat and other foods. Always have cleaning wipes or spray to sanitize your counters before and after cooking.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The food items in your fridge need to stay at a cold temperature to stay safe to consume. If you leave the fridge or freezer door open, then a constant beep will remind you to shut it securely. Some refrigerators come with a pre-installed alarm, others don’t, and you’ll have to buy a refrigerator alarm from online.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For San Bernadino

Just because there’s not a lot of space in your bathroom, you will still have safety hazards. From flood prevention to anti-surge outlets, here are a few safety tips for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or bathtub can lead to a whole lot of damage. Deal with pooling water early with a flood detector before they bring about hundreds of dollars in ruined floors, walls, and fixtures.
Non-slip Shower Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be a painful occurrence, causing bumps, gashed heads, or broken bones. Make sure you prevent these hazards with a textured bath mat for your wet feet.

No-slip Bathtub Stickers: Likewise, a tub basin can be a slippery place to stand in. Make sure every bathtub has some no-slip stickies so your feet and toes have a bumpy patch to grip.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have little children or a family member with memory lapses, you need to take additional care regarding medicine. Secure your bottles by using a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Just like the kitchen, you need to also use a grounded circuit interrupter outlet on every bathroom circuit. This will shut off the electricity if they ever get wet or they experience a sudden surge from an electric razor or hair dryer.

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For San Bernadino

Your child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with simplicity. If their window treatments or other items are safe but tricky to manage, then your child may perform risky methods -- like shimmying up a dresser -- to use them. Here are 5 easy, yet safe, ideas:

No Cord Window Coverings: Safety professionals have designated window treatment cords an unsuspecting problem for children and animals. Use motorized treatments that kids can easily open and close with a remote. Or even better, pair your motorized treatments to your ADT smart hub so they rise without anyone’s help when the sun comes up, and lower at bedtime for added darkness.

Tableside Security Camera: An indoor security camera sitting on your kid’s dresser can double as a high tech baby monitor that you can see with a smartphone. And when they need you, they can use the intercom talk feature that comes with the camera.

Outlet Covers: While each outlet should use outlet safety caps on them to protect your little children, this is doubly urgent in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one room in your home where your child will most likely hang out solo without consistent parental supervision.

Window Fire Ladder: If you have bedrooms on above the first level, then you will want to have a window escape ladder. These will let a child escape even if the stairway or lower levels are blocked off with fire. Just remember to practice how to employ the ladder a few times a year.

Toy Box Or Low Shelves: It’s strange to think about a toy chest as a safety device, but you’ll see the light if you’ve ever stepped on an action figure in your bare feet. A clutter-free floor means a quick escape when there’s a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For San Bernadino

Your bedroom should be a refuge, so let your safety components make life easier when you have an emergency. After all, being jerked awake by a loud alarm can be disorienting.

Smart Hub Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your dresser gives you a sense of what’s happening without leaving your bed. You could alternatively turn on your ADT smartphone app but, the HD touchscreen is often faster to use when you’re coming out of sleep and confused.

Device Charging Station: We use our cell phones for so much now alarm clocks, news readers, social media, and sometimes even phones. The only problem is that a depleted device will cut us off from communications if something goes wrong. To make sure your phone always works, a charging cord or station is should be used nightly.

Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A small light can be a beacon when you’re jolted awake from a siren or unexpected sounds. If you can’t fall asleep with a small nightlight, use smart bulbs in your bedroom and hall. Then you can have light on-demand with a push of a button or voice direction.
Fireproof Lockbox: Store your vital documents like insurance cards, passports, or banking information in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a big one that camps out in a corner or a smaller handheld lockbox that you can snatch when you leave during a fire or break-in.

Heat Sensor: The problem with a master bedroom is that they can run too stuffy or be frigid since they are located far away from the thermostat. A heat sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you can have a pleasant, peaceful sleep at the perfect temperature.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For San Bernadino

Most safety needs in the garage or basement deal with your water or furnace. Finding issues before they start can stop larger problems in the future. So, as you look around your storage areas, take note of these safety items:

Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Installing a flood alarm by your water heater and sump pump can save you from discovering a mess when you go into your garage or basement. It’s definitely better than sorting through a heap of soggy storage boxes.

Carbon Monoxide Alarm: It’s smart to install a CO alarm in a place where a gas leak can occur. If you use a gas furnace, you’ll want to put an alarm in the same area as your HVAC unit.
Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your water sensor finds a plumbing leak or a busted pipe, then you will have to cap the main water valve immediately. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can turn off your water flow from any mobile device. That’s perfect when you’re on vacation and get an emergency leak notification on your mobile device.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage up causes all types of problems. You can waste heat or air through that gaping hole, and rodents or intruders can just saunder in. A sensor will notify you about a neglected garage door and allow you to close it with your phone.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your basement or garage is essential if you wonder about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these rooms can be surprisingly different than your main rooms of the house, so you may need to maintain a closer eye on the temp through the ADT mobile app.

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for San Bernadino

Your foliage, drive, and front walk are just as important to secure as the inside of your home. Use this checklist to defend your perimeter:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s knocking on the door before you open it and chat with guests. View deliveries and record video clips if they are stolen.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can install outdoor security cameras to alert you to suspicious movement in your yard. These 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: Overgrown foliage can create some privacy, but they also obscure your line of sight of the yard. Don’t provide potential intruders an area to hide. Plus, tall shrubs or foliage too close to your house can clog gutters and bring in ants and termites.
ADT Signs And Decals: One of the largest deterrents for a break-in is alerting would-be rogues that you own an updated home security system. An ADT yard sign by the stoop and a window decal will tell ne'er-do-wells that they should keep walking to an less prepared target.

Motion Triggered Flood Lighting: Light is the largest obstacle to people who sneak around in the unlit places. Motion-triggered flood lights on your porch, garage, or deck can shoo lurkers away. Lights also help you see the walk when you come home late at night.

Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You Finish Your Home Safety Checklist for San Bernadino

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver every item on your San Bernadino home safety checklist, we can install a customized home security. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can customize the ideal system for your home’s needs. Just call (909) 247-3368 for more information or fill out the form below. Or personalize your own ADT system with our Security System Designer.