Staying safe in your house should be your topmost responsibility. But are you missing some useful safety items? Look over this home safety checklist for Charleston and find out where your home requires an update.
This guide starts with five whole-home safety items, and then we break it down on a room level. Then, contact (843) 305-8663 or complete the form below for more information.
Whole Home Safety Checklist for Charleston
While you may want to take a room-to-room method for home safety, there are some methods that work for the whole-house approach. These items can talk with one another through a wireless hub, and oftentimes respond to other components. You can also manage every one of your home safety equipment through a mobile app, like ADT Control:
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Smart Lock For Every Door: Every door that uses a deadbolt can use a smart lock. Now you can program codes to family and friends and receive alerts to your mobile device when your locks are unlocked. Your smart lock can even automatically open, allowing you to quickly get out if you have a fire or other emergency.
Family Room Safety Checklist For Charleston
You’ll spend a lot of time in the family room, so it’s the most reasonable place to improve your home safety. Electronics, like a big screen or video game console, typically are located in your living room, making it a popular room for thieves. Start with hanging a motion sensor or security camera in there, then take a look at all these ideas:
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Motion Detectors: By hanging motion sensors, you’ll have a shrieking alarm whenever they sense suspicious motion within your living room. You’ll want motion detectors that ignore pet movements or you’ll get an alert each time your pet passes through for a midnight stroll.
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Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts a visual on your family room. Get real-time feeds of everything so you can find out what’s downstairs through the mobile app. Or talk with family members when they get back from school using the two-way talk feature.
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Surge Protector/Cord Maintenance: Make sure you protect all your electronics and quit overloading your outlets with a surge protector. For added convenience, use a smart plug with surge protection in the unit.
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Entertainment Center Secured To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll need to secure your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to a wall. This is extra crucial if your family room uses carpeting that might make furniture extra unstable.
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Special Locks For Sliding Doors: If your family room has a glass door that opens to a deck, patio, or screened-in porch, you know that the latch is fairly flimsy. Put in an enhanced lock, like a bottom bar or locks that bolt to the top and bottom of the door frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Charleston
The kitchen has plenty of items that can provide safety to your home. Most of these objects are also easy to add and should be purchased from the a retail store:
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Fire Extinguisher: A fire can happen from an overfilled skillet or an errant grease splatter. Always store a fire extinguisher at the ready for any cooking mishaps.
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Circuit Interrupter Box On Each Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be used anywhere there’s nearby running water to prevent a deadly shock. That means the plugs close to your sink and kitchen counter. For 30 years, it’s been standard to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But each one of your outlets will go dead if one outlet senses a surge, so you’ll want to have an unchained GFCI for every outlet.
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Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is needed in the kitchen if you use gas for the stove and oven. If your gas burners leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a loud, buzzing sound and contact your monitoring center.
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Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The most overlooked safety hazard in the kitchen is actually bacteria and cross-contamination that comes with blood from meat and vegetables. Always have antiviral wipes or an antibacterial spray to scrub off your surfaces after cooking.
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Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in your fridge have to remain at a cold temperature to be healthy to consume. If you leave the refrigerator door open, then a constant beep will remind you to shut it securely. Some fridges already have this installed, some do not, and you’ll have to buy a refrigerator alarm from the hardware store.
Bathroom Safety Checklist For Charleston
Just because you may not have a bunch of room in your bathroom there’s still safety issues. From flood prevention to anti-surge outlets, here are some safety tips for your bathroom:
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Flood Detectors: A leaking sink or bathtub can cause a whole lot of destruction. Discover a water problem with a flood detector and save the time and money from renovations.
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Textured Bath Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be painful, causing bumps, sore joints, or trips to the hospital. Make sure you prevent these problems with a no-slip bathroom mat for while you towel off.
Kid’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Charleston
A child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with accessibility. If their window coverings or other items are safe but difficult to operate, then your kids may perform risky methods -- like climb a chest of drawers -- to use them. Here are some easy, yet safe, ideas:
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No Cord Window Treatments: Safety agencies have designated window treatment cords an unsuspecting problem for both children and pets. Use motorized shades that you can easily control through a remote. Or even better, connect your motorized treatments to your ADT security system so they can raise automatically at dawn, and go down in the evening for an easier sleep.
Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Charleston
The master bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety devices give you peace of mind when you experience an emergency. After all, being startled awake by a wailing siren can be confusing.
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Personal Charging Station: We rely on our cell phones for so much now alarms, internet searches, time wasters, and maybe even phones. But, a dead phone will cut us off from reaching help if during an emergency. To make sure your phone always works, a charging station or cord is an important part of your nightstand.
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Nightlight/Smart Lights: A plug-in light can calm you when you’re bolted awake from a fire alarm or other loud sounds. If you have trouble falling asleep with a nightlight, put in smart lights in your bedroom and hall. Then you can have light simply with a mobile device or voice command.
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Fireproof Safe: Stash your essential documents like social security cards, passports, or a bankbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a big one that camps out out of the way or a smaller handheld lockbox that you can carry on your way out during a fire or other emergency.
Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Charleston
Most safety problems in the basement or garage have to do with your water heater or HVAC system. Seeing problems before they start can stave away more devastating disasters later on. So, as you walk around your storage areas, take note of these safety items:
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Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s nice to have a carbon monoxide detector in an area where a CO leak can occur. If you use gas heating, try to install a detector in the same area as your inbound pipes.
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Wireless Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood detector senses a hot water leak or a broken pipe, then you will have to cut off the main water pipe immediately. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can block water flow from anywhere in the world. That’s perfect when you’re out of town and get a water leak alert on your mobile device.
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Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage up leads to all sorts of issues. You can waste heat or air through that open door, and critters or intruders can just saunder in. A sensor will text you about a forgotten garage door and lets you close it with your phone.
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Temperature Sensor: A temperature alarm in your basement or garage is essential if you fret about freezing pipes. The temperature in these rooms can be drastically different than the main part of the house, so you will want to have a closer eye on the temperature with the ADT mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Charleston
Your foliage, drive, and front step are just as important to make safe as the inside of your home. Try the items on this checklist to defend your perimeter:
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Low Shrubbery: High foliage can offer some privacy, but they also obscure you seeing into the outside. Don’t provide potential burglars a place to hide. Plus, high bushes, shrubs or foliage against your home can clog gutters and invite bugs.
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ADT Signage: One of the biggest deterrents for a break-in is alerting aspiring intruders that you own a monitored home security system. An ADT yard sign by the main walk and a window decal will show people that they should keep walking to an less prepared house.
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Motion Triggered Porch Lights: Light is the biggest obstacle to people who skulk in the shadows. Motion-activated lighting on your deck, porch, or garage can help scare possible intruders 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 Charleston
While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install each household item on your Charleston home safety checklist, we can bring you a customized home security. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can customize the perfect system for your family’s needs. Simply call (843) 305-8663 and talk to a professional or send in the form below. Or customize your own system with our Security System Designer.