Home Safety Checklist For Minneapolis

Being safe and secure in your house should be your number one priority. But are you missing some big safety items? Look over this home safety checklist for Minneapolis and discover where your living space needs an update.

We give you some whole-house safety items, and then we whittle it down to specific room ideas. Then, contact (612) 314-0605 or complete the form below to get your home ready.

General Home Safety Checklist for Minneapolis

While you may want to employ a room-to-room process for home safety, there are some methods that work for a lot of your rooms. These items can sync together through a smart hub, and oftentimes work off other things. You might also manage each of your home safety components with a mobile security app, like ADT Control:

Monitored Security System: Each one of your doors and windows should use a sensor that alerts your family to forced entry. As the alarm trips, your monitoring expert answers the alert and contacts a first responder.

Smart Lighting For Most Rooms: Sure, you can set your smart lighting to make your house more eco-conscience. But they can also help you keep safe throughout an emergency. Make your downstairs lights flash on when a sensor trips to frighten off robbers or illuminate your way to a secure area.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Minneapolis can save you 10%-15% in utility costs. It also can turn on your exhaust fan when your alarms senses a fire.

Monitored Fire Detectors: It’s code that you will have a fire detector on every level of your house. You can increase your fire readiness by hanging a monitored fire alarm that detects both smoke and heat, and notifies your round-the-clock monitoring experts when it senses a fire.

Smart Locks: Every entryway that needs a deadbolt can upgrade to a smart lock. Now you may program codes to family and friends and get alerts to your phone when they are unlocked. Your smart lock can even automatically turn off, allowing you to quickly flee the house if you have a fire or dangerous situation.

Family Room Safety Checklist For Minneapolis

You’ll spend a lot of time in your living room, so it’s the best area to start making your home more secure. Electronics, like your TV or stereo system, typically are located in your living room, making it a popular room for thieves. Begin with placing a motion sensor or security camera by the doorway, then continue on with some of these safety protocols:

Motion Detectors: By putting in motion sensors, you’ll get a shrieking noise anytime they sense unusual motion within your family room. Look for motion detectors that filter out pet movements or you’ll get your sirens go off every time your cat comes in for a bite of food.
Security Camera: An indoor security camera gives you a constant watch on your family room. View real-time streams of your room so you can know what’s going on without leaving your bed. Or speak with family members in the living room by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Safeguard all your electronics and quit overtaxing your circuits with a surge protector. For additional convenience, install a smart plug with surge protection included.
Entertainment Center Bolted To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll need to secure your heavy furniture and entertainment center to a wall. This is extra important if your family room uses carpeting that might make objects extra unstable.
Special Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your family room uses a glass door that leads to a patio, deck, or porch, you already know that the latch is usually thin. Install a custom lock, like a cross bar or locks that bolt to the bottom and top of the frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Minneapolis

The kitchen has plenty of items that should add comfort and safety to your house. Many of these things should be easy to add and should be purchased from the Target or Walmart:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can spring up from an overfilled frying pan or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always store a fire extinguisher in close reach for any stove or oven emergencies.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be used on outlets where there’s nearby water to prevent electrocution. That includes the plug outlets by your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per dedicated circuit. But each one of your outlets will go if any outlet sees a surge, so you’re going to want to use a separate GFCI on each outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is needed in spaces that have natural gas for the oven and stove. If your gas appliances leak, the CO detector will cause a loud sound and ping your monitoring agent.
Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The largest safety problem in the kitchen is actually bacteria and contamination that comes with uncooked meat and other foods. Always have antiviral wipes or spray to scrub off your area before and after cooking.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The food items in the fridge should remain at a cold temperature to stay healthy to consume. If you leave the fridge or freezer door ajar, then a small beep will remind you to close the door. Some fridges come with this installed, others do not, and you’ll have to pick up a fridge alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Minneapolis

Just because you don’t a lot of space in your bathroom there’s still safety concerns. From flood prevention to anti-surge outlets, here are some safety ideas for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or tub can lead to extensive water damage. Discover pooling water early with a flood detector and save the time and money from renovations.
Non-slip Bath Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be devastating, causing cuts, gashed heads, or trips to the hospital. Or avoid these issues with a non-slip bath mat for while you towel off.

Non-slip Bathtub Stickies: Likewise, a tub can be a slick area to stand in. Make sure every has some no-slip stickers so your feet and toes have a rough patch to gain traction.

Medicine Door Lock: If you have little toddlers or anyone with memory lapses, you have to take extra attention regarding prescription medicine. Safeguard your pills and syrups by using a medicine cabinet with a child-proof lock.

Circuit Interrupter Outlet: While installing better outlets in the kitchen, you need to also put in a surge protecting GFCI outlet on each bathroom outlet. This will shut off the current if water enters the outlet or you have an unusual surge from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Minneapolis

A child’s bedroom should balance safety with manageability. If their window shades or other things are safe but difficult to operate, then your children may perform risky methods -- like shimmying up a bookshelf -- to touch them. Try these straightforward, and safe, ideas:

No Cord Window Coverings: Safety agencies have designated cords from shades and blinds a secret problem for kids and pets. Put in motorized shades that you can easily open and close with a remote control. Or even better, connect your shades to your security system so they can raise on a schedule when it’s time to get up, and lower at bedtime for added darkness.

Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera placed on your toddler’s desk or dresser can behave just like a baby monitor that you can see from your phone. And when they need your help, they can use the two-way talk button on the camera.

Plug Covers: While each outlet should have covers on them when you have young children, this is especially needed in their bedroom. It’s the main place in your house where your children will most likely play solo without constant additional supervision.

Window Escape Ladder: If you use bedrooms on an upper level, then you will want to install a window safety ladder. These can let a child escape when the stairs or lower levels are engulfed in smoke and fire. Make sure to practice how to employ the ladder one or two times a year.

Toy Chest Or Low Shelves: It’s weird to look at a toy chest as a safety component, but you’ll see the light if you’ve ever tramped on a building block in your socked feet. A clean floor gives your child a quick escape when there’s a fire or break-in.

Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Minneapolis

The main bedroom should be a refuge, so let your safety devices give you peace of mind if you have an emergency event. After all, being startled awake by a high-decibel buzzer can be disorienting.

Home Security Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your bedside table helps you know what’s happening without jumping out of bed. You could alternatively turn on your ADT smartphone app. However, the large touchscreen is often easier to control to use when you’re bleary-eyed and confused.

Phone Charging Stand: We depend on our cell phones for almost everything now alarms, web browsers, time wasters, and --legend has it-- even phones. The only problem is that a dead phone in the middle of the night cuts us off from reaching help if something goes wrong. To keep it nice and ready, a charging cord or station becomes an important part of your nightstand.

Nightlight/Smart Lights: A tiny light can calm you when you’re jolted awake from an alarm or other sounds. If you have trouble falling asleep with an outlet light, use smart bulbs in your fixtures. Then you can get light on-demand with a mobile device or voice direction.
Fireproof Lockbox: Keep your essential paperwork like social security cards, medical information, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof safe. This can be a large one that camps out in your closet or a slender handheld lockbox that you can grab when you leave during a fire or other emergency.

Heat Sensor: The drawback with a master bedroom is that they can run too hot or be cold because they sit across the house from the thermostat. A temperature sensor can communicate to your smart thermostat so you should have a pleasant, restful sleep at a wonderful climate.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Minneapolis

Most safety needs in the garage or basement are with your pipes or furnace. Finding hazards early can stave away bigger emergencies in the future. So, as you walk around your garage or basement, pay attention to these crucial items:

Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Placing a flood sensor by your water heater or sump pump can prevent you from discovering a lake when you go into your garage or basement. It’s sure better than sifting through a heap of soiled storage boxes.

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s smart to install a carbon monoxide detector in an area where a natural gas leak can occur. If you employ gas heating, try to install a detector in the same area as your inbound pipes.
WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector detects a hot water leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to cut off the main water valve immediately. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can turn off your water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re visiting relatives and see an emergency leak alert on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open leads to all types of issues. You can lose HVAC energy through that open door, and rodents or lurkers can just saunder in. A remote sensor will alert you to an open garage door and lets you lower it remotely.
Heat Sensor: A heat sensor in your basement or garage is handy if you wonder about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these areas can be drastically different than the rest of the home, so you may want to have a constant look on them with your security mobile app.

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Minneapolis

Your yard, driveway, and front step are just as imperative to make safe as the rest of your house. Try this checklist to create a safe outside:

Doorbell Camera: See who’s knocking on the the front step before you answer it and talk to guests. View package deliveries and review video clips if they vanish off the step.

Outdoor Security Camera: You can place outdoor security cameras to guard against unusual activity in your back yard. These cameras are especially useful in places where you may not have a window -- like a side yard or by the driveway.

Window Height Bushes: High foliage can create some solitude, but they also hinder you seeing into the yard. Don’t provide potential burglars a place to hide. Plus, large bushes, shrubs or greenery too close to your home can obstruct gutters and bring in pests.
ADT Yard Signs: One of the biggest discouragements for home intrusion is advertising to would-be rogues that you have an updated ADT security system. An ADT sign by the front door and a window cling will alert people that they ought to shove off to an less prepared house.

Motion Activated Outside Lighting: Light is the largest enemy to those who skulk in the shadows. Motion-activated lights on your porch, garage, or deck can frighten lurkers away. Flood lights also help you work the locks when you arrive to the house late after work.

Contact Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Minneapolis

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install every item on your Minneapolis home safety checklist, we can offer a customized home security. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can install the ideal system for your family’s needs. Simply phone (612) 314-0605 to get started or complete the form below. Or customize your own ADT system with our Security System Designer.