ADT® Authorized Dealer Serving Hammond & The Region

Home Safety Checklist For Hammond

Being safe and secure in your home should be your number one concern. But are you overlooking one or two big safety items? Use this home safety checklist for Hammond and discover where your living space can use some work.

This guide starts with five whole-house safety techniques, and then we delve down to specific room ideas. Then, contact (219) 207-5149 or complete the form below to speak to a security professional.

Whole Home Safety Checklist

Essential Home Safety Checklist for Hammond

While you should employ a room-to-room approach to home safety, there are some methods that work for multiple rooms. These components can sync with one another through a wireless hub, and often can work off one another. You can also manage every one of your home safety devices using a smartphone app, such as ADT Control:

  • Monitored Security System: Each one of your doors and windows should use a sensor that alerts your family to intrusion. When an alarm trips, your monitoring center answers the call and quickly contacts a first responder.

  • Smart Lighting For Most Rooms: Sure, you can set your smart lighting so your home is more energy-efficient. But they can also allow you to stay safe during an emergency. Make your downstairs lights flip on when a sensor goes off to frighten off intruders or brighten your way to a safe area.

  • Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Hammond should save you up to 15% in gas and electric costs. Also, it can flip on the exhaust fan during a fire.

  • Monitored Fire Detectors: At the very least, you have a fire detector on each floor. You can increase your fire game by utilizing a monitored fire detector that detects excessive heat and smoke, and pings your round-the-clock monitoring experts when it detects a fire.

  • Smart Door Locks: Every doorway that utilizes a deadbolt can use a smart door lock. Now you may preset numbered codes to friends and family and receive notifications to your mobile device when your locks are activated. Your doors can even automatically open, allowing you to quickly flee the house when you have an emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist

Family Room Safety Checklist For Hammond

You’ll hang out most in your living room, so it can be the most reasonable place to start your home safety renovation. Highly sought after items, like your TV or video game console, typically are located in your family room, making it a tempting area for thieves. Start with installing a motion sensor or indoor security camera by the doorway, then continue on with some of these suggestions:

  • Motion Detectors: By installing motion sensors, you’ll have a loud alarm whenever they sense unusual movement in your living room. The best devices are motion sensors that filter out a dog or cat or you’ll have a tripped alarm every time your cat passes through for a bite of food.

  • Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera gives you an eye on your living room. Get real-time streams of your room so you can find out what’s downstairs from the mobile app. Or talk with your family in the living room with the two-way talk feature.

  • Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect those electronics and stop overburdening your electric system with a surge protector. For added convenience, set up a smart plug with surge protection included.

  • Entertainment Center Bolted To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll need to bolt your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to your wall. This is especially crucial if your living room has carpeting that might make objects extra wobbly.

  • Enhanced Locks For Glass Doors: If your living room has a sliding glass door that slides out to a deck, patio, or porch, you can see that the door lock is pretty flimsy. Put in a custom lock, like a metal bar or small locks that bolt to the bottom and top of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Hammond

The kitchen has many items that should bring comfort and safety to your home. Many of these items should be easy to add and should be found in the grocery store:

  • Fire Extinguisher: A fire can spring up from an overfilled pot or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always store a fire extinguisher at the ready for any kitchen emergencies.

  • Circuit Interrupter Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be installed anywhere they’re by water to ward off a deadly shock. That includes the plug outlets by your sink and kitchen counter. Since the late ‘80s, it’s been required to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, you’ll want to use a separate GFCI on each outlet.

  • Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is advised for spaces that use gas for the oven and range. If your gas lines malfunction, the carbon monoxide detector will cause a loud sound and contact your monitoring expert.

  • Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety issue in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and protein from blood from meat and dairy. Always keep cleaning wipes or a bleach spray to scrub off your area after making a meal.

  • Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The food items in the fridge should remain at a cold temperature to stay ready to use. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door ajar, then an alarm beep will tell you to shut it securely. Some refrigerators come with this installed, some won’t, and you’ll have to buy a refrigerator alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Hammond

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

  • Flood Sensors: A leaking sink or bathtub can cause extensive destruction. Find out early about water problems with a flood detector and save yourself from reflooring the whole bathroom.

  • Non-slip Shower Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing pulled muscles, sore joints, or trips to the hospital. Make sure you avoid these hazards with a non-slip bath mat for while you towel off.

  • Non-slip Bathtub Stickers: Like a tiled floor, a bathtub can be a slippery area to stand in. Make sure every tub has some textured strips so your toes have a textured patch to gain traction.

  • Medicine Door Lock: If you have little children or anyone with memory complications, you should take extra care regarding prescription medicine. Hide away your prescriptions by using a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

  • GFCI Circuits: Just like the kitchen, you will have to also use a safer GFCI outlet on each bathroom outlet. These will stop the flow of the electricity if they ever get wet or you have a sudden surge from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Child's Bedroom Safety Checklist

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Hammond

Your kid’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with simplicity. If their window treatments or other things are safe but tricky to use, then your kids may get around the device with dangerous methods -- like climb a bookshelf -- to touch them. Here are 5 simple, yet safe, ideas:

  • Cordless Window Coverings: Safety experts have designated cords from shades and blinds a secret problem for both children and pets. Use motorized blinds or shades that kids can easily open and close through a remote. Or even better, link your shades to your security system so they rise automatically at dawn, and lower in the evening for extra privacy.

  • Tableside Security Camera: A security camera sitting on your toddler’s dresser can behave like an HD baby monitor that you can view with a smartphone. And when they want your help, they can use the intercom talk feature that comes with the camera.

  • Outlet Covers: While every outlet should use outlet safety caps on them to protect your little children, this is especially needed in a child’s bedroom. It’s the main place in your home where your toddler will most likely be alone without adult supervision.

  • Window Escape Ladder: If you have bedrooms on above the first floor, then you will want to install a window safety ladder. These will let your children get out of their room when the hallway or lower levels are blocked off with fire. Make sure to go over how to use them at least twice a year.

  • Toy Chest Or Low Shelves: It’s strange to look at a toy box as a safety item, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever tramped on a building block in your bare feet. A uncluttered floor gives your child a quick way out when there’s an emergency.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist

Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Hammond

The master bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety devices give you peace of mind if there's an emergency event. After all, being startled awake by a high-decibel siren can be disorienting.

  • Security System Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your nightstand gives you a sense of what’s happening without jumping out of bed. You could also turn on your ADT mobile app but, the touchscreen may be easier to manage to use when you’re coming out of sleep and disoriented.

  • Phone Charging Station: We depend on our smartphones for so much now alarms, web browsers, game machines, and maybe even phones. The only problem is that an uncharged cell can cut us off from reaching help if there’s a problem. So, a an easy-to-use charging station is an important part of your nightstand.

  • Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A small light can calm you when you’re bolted awake from an alarm or other loud noises. If you won’t drift off to sleep with an outlet light, install smart bulbs in your bedroom. Then you can control light anytime with a push of a button or voice command.

  • Fireproof Safe: Keep your vital paperwork like birth certificates, medical information, or banking information in a fireproof lockbox. This can be a large one that is located out of the way or a smaller handheld safe that you can snatch as you escape during an emergency event.

  • Temperature Sensor: The issue with bedrooms is that they might run too stuffy or be chilly since they are located across the house from the thermostat. A temperature sensor will communicate to your smart thermostat so you should have a nice, restful sleep at just the right climate.

Garage Safety Checklist

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Hammond

Most safety problems in the garage or basement deal with your water or furnace. Seeing problems early can stop more devastating disasters in the future. So, as you walk around your basement or garage, pay attention to these critical items:

  • Water Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Putting a flood alarm in back of your water heater and sump pump can save you from wading into a mess when you step into your garage or basement. It’s sure better than rummaging through a heap of soggy storage boxes.

  • CO Alarm: It’s beneficial to hang a CO detector in an area where a gas leak can spring up. If you employ a gas furnace, you should install an alarm in the same room as your unit.

  • WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your water alarm senses a hot water heater leak or a burst pipe, then you will have to cap the main water valve at once. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can block water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re on vacation and see a flood sensor text on your phone.

  • Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open leads to all sorts of problems. You can waste HVAC energy through that gaping hole, and rodents or thieves can just walk in. A sensor will text you about a forgotten garage door and allow you to close it with your phone.

  • Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your basement or garage is a definite if you fret about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these rooms can be wildly different than your main rooms of the home, so you will want to maintain a constant look on them through the ADT mobile app.

Outside perimeter checklist

Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for Hammond

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

  • Outdoor Camera: You can hang outdoor security cameras to alert you to late night lurkers in your yard. These devices come in handy in areas where you may not have a window installed -- like a side yard or by the garage.

  • Low Shrubs: High foliage can create some serenity, but they also hinder your line of sight of the yard and curb. Don’t offer potential burglars a place to hide. Plus, tall bushes, shrubs or foliage against your house can obstruct gutters and bring in pests.

  • ADT Signs And Decals: One of the biggest disincentives for home intrusion is alerting potential intruders that you use a state-of-the-art security system. An ADT yard stick by the stoop and a window cling will tell people that they might want to keep walking to an unprotected target.

  • Motion Triggered Porch Lights: Light is the largest enemy to those who lurk in the unlit places. Motion-controlled lights on your deck, patio, or garage can frighten possible intruders away. Flood lights also help you get inside when you get home late after work.

Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You With Your Home Safety Checklist for Hammond

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver non-security devices on your Hammond home safety checklist, we can offer a state-of-the-art home security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can customize the best system for your house’s needs. Simply phone (219) 207-5149 for more information or fill out the form below. Or personalize your own solution with our Security System Designer.