Home Safety Checklist For Miami

Keeping safe and secure in your house should be your number one concern. But are you missing some big safety items? Take this home safety checklist for Miami and discover where your home needs an update.

We give you a few whole-home safety ideas, and then we delve down room-by-room. Then, phone (305) 563-8665 or complete the form below to talk to a security professional.

Essential Home Safety Checklist for Miami

While you should employ a individual room approach to home safety, there are a few methods that work for the whole-house approach. These devices can link with one another through a wireless hub, and often can work off one another. You might also manage all your home safety devices with a mobile security app, like ADT Control:

Monitored Home Security System: Each one of your windows and doors should use a sensor that warns you to intrusion. As the alarm trips, your monitoring team answers the alert and sends the police or fire department.

Smart Lights For Every Major Room: Sure, you can schedule your smart lights so your home is more efficient. But smart lights can also allow you to keep safe throughout an emergency. Have your lights flip on when a sensor trips to scare off robbers or illuminate the way out to a secure location.

Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Miami can save you 10%-15% in energy costs. Also, it can start your exhaust fan if you have a fire.

Monitored Fire Alarms: At the very least, you need to have a smoke detector on each floor. You can improve your fire preparedness by installing a monitored fire alarm that detects both heat and smoke, and alerts your 24/7 monitoring team when it senses a fire.

Smart Door Locks: Every door that uses a deadbolt can upgrade to a smart door lock. Now you can assign key codes to friends and family and receive alerts to your mobile device when your locks are unlocked. Your smart lock can even automatically unlock, allowing you to quickly flee the house during a fire or other emergency.

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Miami

You’ll hang out most in your family room, so it may be the most reasonable area to optimize your home safety. Electronics, like a TV or video game console, probably sit in your family room, making it an alluring space for robbers. Begin with placing a motion sensor or security camera in there, then take a look at the following suggestions:

Motion Sensors: By putting in motion detectors, you’ll hear a loud alarm if they detect unusual motion in your living room. You’ll want motion sensors that ignore a dog or cat or you’ll see an alert every time your dog roams by for a drink of water.
Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts an eye on your living room. View constant feeds of your room so you can know what’s downstairs from the mobile app. Or speak with your family in the living room by using the two-way talk feature.
Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Protect expensive electronics and quit overtaxing your circuits with a surge protector. For added convenience, use a smart plug with surge protection included.
Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll want to attach your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to your wall. This is extra crucial if your living room has rugs or carpet that might make objects extra wobbly.
Special Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your family room has a sliding glass door that slides out to a deck, patio, or porch, you get that the lock is fairly flimsy. Install an enhanced lock, like a bottom bar or locks that are located on the top and bottom of the opening.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Miami

Your kitchen has plenty of items that should bring safety to your home. Many of these objects should be simple to add and can be purchased from the a retail store:

Fire Extinguisher: A fire can come from from an unwatched skillet or an errant grease splatter. Always keep a fire extinguisher in close reach for any stove or oven emergencies.
Circuit Interrupter Box On Every Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be installed everywhere there’s nearby water to lessen the chance of a deadly shock. That means the plugs by your kitchen counter and sink. Since 1987, it’s been standard to have one GFCI per dedicated circuit. But if you don’t want every outlet to go dead when one outlet trips, you’re going to want to have an unchained GFCI per outlet.

Monitored CO Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is recommended for kitchens that use a gas oven and range. If your gas appliances malfunction, the carbon monoxide detector will cause a loud, buzzing noise and call your monitoring expert.
Clorox Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety issue in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and protein from blood from meat and other foods. Always store cleaning wipes or a bleach spray to scrub off your area after cooking.
Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The items in your fridge have to stay at a cold temperature to be ready to use. If you leave the refrigerator door open too long, then a small beep will let you know so you can close the door. Some refrigerators come with this installed, some don’t, and you’ll have to get a fridge alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Miami

Just because there’s not a lot of space in your bathroom doesn’t mean that there aren’t safety issues. From flood detectors to anti-surge outlets, here are five safety improvements for your bathroom:

Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or tub can cause an expensive amount of damage. Find leaks early with a flood detector and save yourself from redoing the entire bathroom.
Non-slip Shower Mats: A slip and fall in the bathroom can be devastating, causing bumps, bruises, or sprained ankles. You can prevent these problems with a non-slip bath mat for after your bath or shower.

Non-slip Bathtub Stickers: Another water hazard, a bathtub can be a slippery area to be on. Make sure each tub has some textured stickers so your feet and toes have a bumpy patch to gain traction.

Medicine Door Latch: If you have young kids or someone with memory complications, you should take extra attention regarding prescribed medicine. Safeguard your bottles by getting a medicine cabinet with a locking latch.

GFCI Circuits: Similarly to the kitchen, you will have to also use a surge protecting circuit interrupter outlet on each bathroom receptacle. These will shut off the electricity if water enters the outlet or you have a sudden spike from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Miami

Your kid’s bedroom should balance safety with manageability. If their window treatments or other things are safe but tricky to use, then your children may perform unsafe methods -- like climb a dresser -- to touch them. Here are 5 simple, yet safe, ideas:

Cord-Free Window Treatments: Safety agencies have long called corded window treatments a secret danger for kids and pets. Install motorized shades that you can easily control with a remote. Or even better, pair your motorized coverings to your ADT smart hub so they rise without anyone’s help when the sun comes up, and lower in the evening for added darkness.

Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera perched on your kid’s desk or dresser can double as an HD baby monitor that you can watch with your phone. And if they need you, they can hit the 2-way talk feature that comes with the camera.

Outlet Covers: While each outlet should use covers on them to protect your small children, this is doubly needed in a child’s bedroom. It’s the main place in your home where your children will most likely be by themselves without consistent additional supervision.

Window Safety Ladder: If you use bedrooms on an upper floor, then you need to install a window escape ladder. These will help a child get out of their room even if the hallway or ground floor are engulfed in smoke and fire. Make sure to go over how to unfurl them at least twice a year.

Toy Box Or Low Shelves: It’s weird to look at a toy box as a safety device, but you’ll understand if you’ve ever tramped on an action figure in your bare feet. A clean floor means a quick retreat during a fire or break-in.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For Miami

Your master bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety devices make life easier if you have an emergency event. After all, being wrenched awake by a high-decibel alarm can be quite a shock.

Security System Touchscreen: Having a smart hub on your bedside table helps you know what’s happening without getting out of bed. You could always turn on your ADT phone app but, the touchscreen can be faster to use when you’re yawning and confused.

Phone Charging Stand: We rely on our cell phones for so much now GPS, internet searches, game machines, and maybe even phones. However, an uncharged device in the middle of the night cuts us off from the outside world if there’s a problem. To make sure your phone always works, a charging cord or station is an important part of your nightstand.

Smart Lights Or Nightlights: A small light can calm you when you’re bolted awake from a fire alarm or other loud noises. If you can’t fall asleep with a small nightlight, install smart bulbs in your bedroom and hall. Then you can have light simply with a push of a button or voice direction.
Fireproof Lockbox: Keep your important paperwork like birth certificates, passports, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof safe. Your safe can be a big one that sits out of the way or a slender portable safe that you can grab as you escape during a fire or other emergency.

Temperature Sensor: The drawback with bedrooms is that they can run too stuffy or be chilly since they sit across the house from the thermostat. A temperature sensor can talk to your smart thermostat so you can have a comfortable, restful sleep at the perfect climate.

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Miami

Most safety issues in the basement or garage have to do with your pipes or HVAC system. Seeing issues at the source can prevent more devastating problems later on. So, as you look around your storage areas, pay attention to these critical items:

Water Sensor Or Sump Pump Alarm: Placing a flood alarm next to your water heater or sump pump can prevent you from wading into a mess when you go into your basement or garage. The last you need is to lose the weekend getting rid of standing water and salvaging all those ruined boxes.

Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s nice to hang a carbon monoxide alarm in an area where a CO leak can occur. If you employ gas heat, try to install an alarm in the same area as your inbound pipes.
Remote Water Shutoff Valve: If your water sensor detects a hot water heater leak or a burst pipe, then you will want to cut off the primary water line at once. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can block water flow from your phone. That’s nice when you’re on vacation and see a flood sensor text on your phone.
Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage up leads to all types of headaches. You can lose heat through that gaping hole, and all sorts of animals or intruders can just walk in. A sensor will notify you about an open garage door and allow you to close it remotely.
Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your garage or basement is essential if you worry about your pipes freezing. The temperature in these areas can be wildly different than the rest of the home, so you may want to keep a close look on them through your mobile app.

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Miami

Your front yard, drive, and front step are just as important to defend as the rest of your home. Try this checklist to create a safe outside:

Doorbell Security Camera: See who’s arrived at the front door before you answer it and chat with guests. See deliveries and look at video clips if they are taken.

Outdoor Camera: You can install outdoor cameras to alert you to unusual activity in your back yard. These cameras come in handy in places where you might not have a window -- like around a cellar or by the garage door.

Window Height Bushes: High shrubs can create some solitude, but they also block your view of the outside. Don’t give potential thieves a place to hide. Plus, tall bushes, shrubs or trees around your home can jam up gutters and invite ants and termites.
ADT Signs And Decals: One of the biggest deterrents for home intrusion is alerting would-be burglars that you have a monitored ADT security system. An ADT yard stick by the stoop and a window cling will show lurkers that they might want to keep walking to an unprotected house.

Motion Triggered Porch Lights: Light is the greatest obstacle to people who sneak around in the unlit places. Motion-controlled flood lights on your deck, porch, or garage can help scare possible intruders away. Flood lights also help you get inside when you get to the house late after work.

Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You Finish Your Home Safety Checklist for Miami

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t deliver each household item on your Miami home safety checklist, we can offer a customized home security system. With everything from alarms to thermostats, we can personalize the ideal system for your house’s needs. Just phone (305) 563-8665 and talk to a professional or fill out the form below. Or personalize your own system with our Security System Designer.