Being safe and secure in your residence should be your number one responsibility. But are you forgetting some key safety components? Look over this home safety checklist for Birmingham and see where your home can use greater attention.
This guide starts with five whole-home safety ideas, and then we break it down to specific room ideas. Then, call (205) 203-0526 or complete the form below for additional information.
Essential Home Safety Checklist for Birmingham
While you may want to take a room-by-room method for home safety in Birmingham, there are some things that are good for the whole home. These components can link with one another through a wireless hub, and can even respond to other things. You might also control each of your home safety components with a mobile app, like ADT Control:
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Smart Lock For Every Door: Every doorway that needs a keyed lock can use a smart lock. Now you may program key codes to friends and family and receive alerts to your smartphone when they are unlocked. Your locks can even automatically unlock, allowing you to quickly leave during a fire or other emergency.
Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Birmingham
You’ll spend most of your time in the family room, so it’s the perfect area to kick off your home safety optimization. Electronics, like a big screen or video game console, probably sit in your family room, making it a popular area for burglars. Start with installing a motion detector or indoor camera in your room, then continue on with the following ideas:
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Motion Sensors: By hanging motion sensors, you’ll hear a high-decibel alarm if they sense unexpected movement in your family room. Look for motion sensors that ignore a dog or cat or you’ll see an alert every time your dog roams by for a midnight stroll.
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Indoor Camera: An indoor security camera puts a constant watch on your family room. View real-time feeds of everything so you can find out what’s happening from the mobile app. Or speak with your kids in the family room by using the two-way talk feature.
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Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Protect expensive electronics and stop overtaxing your outlets with a surge protector. For extra convenience, install a smart plug with a surge protector in the unit.
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Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have any small children, you’ll need to secure your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to a wall. This is extra important if your family room uses carpeting that might make objects extra wobbly.
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Special Locks For Sliding Doors: If your family room uses a sliding door that opens to a deck, patio, or outside porch, you know that the door lock is pretty flimsy. Use a special lock, like a bottom bar or small locks that bolt to the bottom and top of the frame.

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Birmingham
Your kitchen has many items that should add safety to your house. Many of these things are also simple to add and can be found in the a retail store:
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Fire Extinguisher: Fire can spring up from a neglected skillet or a faulty burner. Always store a fire extinguisher at hand for any cooking mishaps.
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GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be used anywhere they’re close to running water to ward off electrocution. That means the plugs close to your kitchen counter and sink. For 30 years, it’s been standard to have one circuit interrupter outlet per circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, you’ll want to use a separate GFCI for every outlet.
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Monitored CO Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is advised for kitchens that employ gas for the stove and oven. If your gas lines leak, the carbon monoxide detector will play a high-decibel siren and call your monitoring agent.
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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 store antiviral wipes or an antibacterial spray to clean your counters after cooking.
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Refrigerator/Freezer Alarm: The food items in your fridge have to remain at a chilly temperature to stay safe to consume. If you accidently leave the refrigerator door open too long, then an alarm beep will remind you to check the seal. Some appliances already have an alarm, some won’t, and you’ll have to buy a fridge alarm from online.
Bathroom Safety Checklist For Birmingham
Just because you may not have a bunch of room in your bathroom doesn’t mean that there aren’t safety issues. From flood detectors to anti-surge outlets, here are five safety tips for your bathroom:
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Flood Sensors: A leaking toilet or shower can cause an expensive amount of destruction. Find out early about leaks with a flood detector before they generate hundreds to thousands of dollars in ruined floors, walls, and fixtures.
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No-slip Bathroom Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be a painful occurrence, causing bumps, sore joints, or trips to the hospital. Or prevent these hazards with a non-slip bath mat for after your bath or shower.
Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Birmingham
Your child’s bedroom should counterbalance safety with simplicity. If their window treatments or other items are safe but tricky to manage, then your kids may get around the device with risky activities -- like scale a bookshelf -- to touch them. Here are some straightforward, yet safe, ideas:
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Cordless Window Treatments: Safety experts have long called corded window treatments a secret hazard for kids and pets. Put in motorized treatments that you can easily open and close via remote control. Or go state-of-the-art and pair your motorized treatments to your security system so they open on a schedule at dawn, and go down at night for extra privacy.
Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Birmingham
The master bedroom should be an oasis, so let your safety items make you more responsive if you have an emergency. After all, being jerked awake by a loud alarm can be confusing.
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Personal Charging Stand: We rely on our phones for almost everything now GPS, internet searches, games, and sometimes even phones. However, an uncharged device will cut us off from communications if there’s a problem. So, a charging station or cord becomes an important part of your nightstand.
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Nightlight/Smart Lights: A plug-in light can be a beacon when you’re startled awake from a fire alarm or other sounds. If you have trouble falling asleep with a small nightlight, put in a smart bulb in your bedroom. Then you can control light anytime with a button push or vocal command.
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Fireproof Lockbox: Stash your important documents like insurance cards, passports, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a big one that camps out in a corner or a small portable safe that you can carry on your way out during an emergency event.
Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For Birmingham
Most safety issues in the garage or basement deal with your pipes or furnace. Seeing issues before they start can prevent bigger problems in the future. So, as you take a look around your basement or garage, take note of these safety items:
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CO Alarm: It’s nice to install a carbon monoxide alarm in a place where a natural gas leak can happen. If you employ a gas furnace, you should put an alarm in the same room as your unit.
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WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood alarm detects a plumbing leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to shut off the main water valve quickly. With a WiFi shutoff valve, you can stop water flow from any mobile device. That’s nice when you’re on vacation and get an emergency leak alert on your smartphone.
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Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage up causes all sorts of problems. You can waste heat through that large opening, and all sorts of animals or lurkers can just wander in. A sensor will notify you about a neglected garage door and lets you close it through the app.
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Temperature Sensor: A heat alarm in your garage or basement is handy if you wonder about freezing pipes. The heat in these rooms can be wildly different than the main part of the house, so you may want to have a close look on the temperature through your mobile app.

Outside Safety Checklist for Birmingham
Your yard, driveway, and front porch are just as imperative to defend as the interior of your home. Try the items on this checklist to defend your perimeter:
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Low Bushes: Overgrown foliage can create some privacy, but they also block your line of sight of the outside. Don’t give potential burglars an area to hide. Plus, tall shrubs or greenery around your structure can clog gutters and invite ants and termites.
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ADT Yard Signs: One of the most popular deterrents for home intrusion is telling potential burglars that you use a state-of-the-art security system. An ADT yard stick by the stoop and a window sticker will tell people that they might want to move on to an unprotected score.
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Motion Triggered Flood Light Fixtures: Light is the largest deterrent to people who skulk in the dark. Motion-triggered flood lights on your porch, garage, or deck can frighten lurkers away. Lights also help you see the walk when you come to the house late after work.
Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help You With Your Home Safety Checklist for Birmingham
While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install non-security devices on your Birmingham home safety checklist, we can install a customized home security system. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can customize the perfect system for your family’s needs. Just call (205) 203-0526 to get started or fill out the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.