ADT® Authorized Dealer Serving Modesto, Merced & Surrounding Areas

Home Safety Checklist For Modesto

Keeping safe and secure in your residence should be your largest concern. But are you missing one or two big safety components? Use this home safety checklist for Modesto and discover where your house requires some work.

We give you a few whole-house safety techniques, and then we whittle it down room-by-room. Then, you can call (209) 226-4324 or complete the form below to get your house ready.

Whole Home Safety Checklist

Essential Home Safety Checklist for Modesto

While you may want to use a room-to-room process for home safety, there are a few items that work for the whole-house approach. These components can sync to each other through a touchscreen hub, and often can respond to other components. You might also manage every one of your home safety equipment through a mobile app, like ADT Control:

  • Monitored Security System: Each one of your doors and windows should have a sensor that warns you and your family to forced entry. After your alarm triggers, your monitoring expert picks up the call and immediately sends the police or fire department.

  • Smart Lighting For Most Rooms: Of course, you can schedule your smart lighting so your home is more eco-conscience. But they can also allow you to remain safe throughout an emergency. Make your downstairs lights flip on when an alarm triggers to scare off burglars or light your way to a safe location.

  • Smart Thermostat: Likewise, a smart thermostat in Modesto can save you between 10%-15% in gas and electric spending. It also can flip on your exhaust fan if you have a fire.

  • Monitored Fire Detectors: It’s code that you need to have a fire alarm on each level of your house. You can increase your fire game by utilizing a monitored fire alarm that looks for excessive heat and smoke, and alerts your round-the-clock monitoring agents when it thinks that there’s a fire.

  • Smart Lock For Every Door: Every entryway that uses a keyed lock can use a smart door lock. Now you can assign key codes to family and friends and receive notifications to your phone when your locks are activated. Your doors can even automatically unlock, helping you to quickly get out if you have an emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist

Living Room/Family Room Safety Checklist For Modesto

You’ll hang out most in your living room, so it’s the most reasonable area to optimize your home safety. Highly sought after items, like a big screen or video game console, usually reside in your family room, making it an alluring room for burglars. Begin with placing a motion detector or indoor camera in there, then try some of these safety protocols:

  • Motion Sensors: By hanging motion detectors, you’ll hear a loud noise anytime they sense unusual motion in your living room. Look for motion sensors that ignore a dog or cat or you’ll have your sirens go off each time your pet roams by for a bite of food.

  • Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera gives you a visual on your family room. View live streams of everything so you can see what’s downstairs without leaving your bed. Or talk with your kids when they arrive back from school using the two-way talk feature.

  • Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Make sure you protect expensive electronics and stop overtaxing your electric system with a surge protector. For additional energy-efficiency, set up a smart plug with surge protection built-in.

  • Heavy Furniture Bolted To The Wall: If you have babies or toddlers, you’ll want to attach your entertainment center or other heavy furniture to your wall. This is especially crucial if your living room uses carpet that might make objects extra wobbly.

  • Special Locks For Sliding Glass Doors: If your family room uses a sliding glass door that opens to a patio, deck, or porch, you can see that the lock is pretty flimsy. Put in a custom lock, like a metal bar or locks that secures the door to the bottom and top of the opening.

Kitchen Safety Checklist

Kitchen Safety Checklist For Modesto

Your kitchen has many items that can add safety to your home. Many of these items are also easy to add and can be found in the a retail store:

  • Fire Extinguisher: Fire can come from from an overfilled pot or a towel that’s too close to a burner. Always store a fire extinguisher in close reach for any stove or oven mishaps.

  • Circuit Interrupter Box On Each Outlet: A GFCI outlet should be used everywhere they’re by running water to lessen the chance of an electric shock. That includes the plug outlets around your sink and kitchen counter. Since the late ‘80s, it’s been required to have one GFCI per circuit. But each one of your plugs will go dead if one outlet detects a surge, so you’ll want to install a separate GFCI per outlet.

  • Monitored Carbon Monoxide Detector: A carbon monoxide detector is recommended for kitchens that use natural gas for the oven and stove. If your gas lines malfunction, the carbon monoxide detector will emit a loud noise and ping your monitoring agent.

  • Disinfectant Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety issue in the kitchen is the viruses, bacteria, and cross-contamination from blood from meat and other foods. Always keep antiviral wipes or spray to clean your area when cooking.

  • Freezer and Refrigerator Alarm: The milk, meat, and perishables in your fridge need to stay at a cold temperature to be ready to eat. If you leave the freezer or refrigerator door ajar, then a small beep will tell you to shut it securely. Some fridges come with an alarm, others won’t, and you’ll have to pick up a fridge alarm from the hardware store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist

Bathroom Safety Checklist For Modesto

Just because there’s not a lot of space in your bathroom doesn’t mean that there aren’t safety concerns. From water problems to electric safety, here are five safety tips for your bathroom:

  • Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or bathtub can cause extensive damage. Find out early about leaks with a flood detector and save yourself from renovating the entire bathroom.

  • Non-slip Bath Mats: A slip in the bathroom can be devastating, causing pulled muscles, bruises, or sprained ankles. Or steer clear from these issues with a no-slip bathroom mat for while you towel off.

  • Non-slip Bathtub Stickers: Like a tiled floor, a tub basin can be a slick surface to be on. Make sure each has some no-slip strips so your feet have a rough patch to grip.

  • Medicine Door Latch: If you have curious children or a family member with memory difficulties, you should take additional precautions regarding prescribed medicine. Hide away your pills and syrups by getting a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

  • GFCI Circuits: While installing better outlets in the kitchen, you need to also use a surge protecting GFCI outlet on each bathroom receptacle. This will cut the electric current if water splashes on them or there’s a sudden jolt from a curling iron or hair dryer.

Child's Bedroom Safety Checklist

Children’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For Modesto

Your child’s bedroom should pair safety with accessibility. If their window shades or other things are safe but hard to manage, then your kids may get around the device with risky methods -- like scale a chest of drawers -- to use them. Here are 5 easy, and safe, ideas:

  • No Cord Window Treatments: Safety professionals have identified corded window treatments a hidden hazard for kids and pets. Put in motorized shades that you can easily control via remote control. Or better yet, link your motorized treatments to your ADT smart hub so they rise without anyone’s help when it’s time to get up, and lower at night for extra privacy.

  • Tableside Security Camera: A camera perched on your child’s desk or dresser can double as a baby monitor that you can view from your phone. And when they need you, they can use the two-way talk button that comes with the camera.

  • Outlet Plug Covers: While every outlet should have covers on them for your little children, this is doubly needed in a child’s bedroom. It’s the one place in your house where your child will most likely play solo without adult supervision.

  • Window Fire Ladder: If you use bedrooms on an upper level, then you will want to put in a window fire ladder. These can let a young one leave the house in case the stairway or downstairs are engulfed in smoke and fire. Just remember to practice how to use them a few times a year.

  • Toy Chest Or Low Bookshelves: It’s weird to think about a toy box as a safety component, but you’ll get it if you’ve ever tramped on an action figure in your socked feet. A clean floor let your child have a quick retreat when there’s a safety or security event.

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist

Main Bedroom Safety Checklist For Modesto

Your bedroom should be your calm space, so let your safety components give you peace of mind if you have an emergency. After all, being wrenched awake by a wailing siren can be quite a shock.

  • Security System Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your bedside table lets you see what’s happening without jumping out of bed. You could alternatively use your ADT smartphone app but, the HD touchscreen is often easier to manage to use when you’re coming out of sleep and confused.

  • Phone Charging Station: We use our smartphones for so many things now alarms, internet searches, social media, and sometimes even phones. The only problem is that a depleted cell will cut us off from reaching help if there’s a problem. To make sure your phone always works, a an easy-to-use charging station is an important part of your nightstand.

  • Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A plug-in light helps ground you when you’re jolted awake from a siren or unexpected noises. If you won’t drift off to sleep with a nightlight, install smart lights in your bedroom and hall. Then you can control light simply with a mobile device or voice direction.

  • Fireproof Lockbox: Stash your important papers like birth certificates, stock certificates, or a spare checkbook in a fireproof lockbox. Your lockbox can be a bigger one that camps out out of the way or a smaller handheld lockbox that you can grab on your way out during a fire or break-in.

  • Temperature Sensor: The issue with a master bedroom is that they might be too hot or be chilly since they sit far from the thermostat. A heat sensor can communicate to your smart thermostat so you should have a nice, restful sleep at a wonderful temperature.

Garage Safety Checklist

Basement/Garage Safety Checklist For Modesto

Most safety needs in the basement or garage are with your pipes or furnace. Finding hazards at the source can stop bigger problems in the future. So, as you walk around your garage or basement, check over these crucial items:

  • Water Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Installing a flood sensor next to your water heater or sump pump drain can stop you from discovering a pond when you step into your basement or garage. It’s definitely better than sifting through a heap of destroyed storage boxes.

  • Carbon Monoxide Detector: It’s nice to hang a CO alarm in an area where a natural gas leak can happen. If you use a gas furnace, you should put a detector in the same area as your unit.

  • WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your flood sensor finds a plumbing leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to cut off the main water valve quickly. With a wireless shutoff valve, you can block water flow from any mobile device. That’s helpful when you’re out of town and see a flood sensor text on your mobile device.

  • Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage up leads to all types of problems. You can lose a bunch of heat or air through that open door, and rodents or lurkers can just wander in. A remote sensor will alert you to a neglected garage door and allow you to close it through the app.

  • Temperature Sensor: A temperature sensor in your basement or garage is handy if you fret about your pipes freezing. The heat in these areas can be surprisingly different than the main part of the home, so you will want to maintain a closer eye on the temperature through the ADT mobile app.

Outside perimeter checklist

Home Perimeter Safety Checklist for Modesto

Your front yard, driveway, and front walk are just as imperative to make safe as the inside of your house. Try the items on this checklist to defend your perimeter:

  • Outdoor Security Camera: You can hang outdoor security cameras to notify you about unusual movement in your yard. These cameras are especially useful in places where you may not have a window -- like a side yard or by the driveway.

  • Low Bushes: High foliage can create some solitude, but they also obscure you seeing into the outside. Don’t provide potential thieves an area to hide. Plus, large bushes, shrubs or greenery around your structure can obstruct gutters and summon ants and termites.

  • ADT Signage: One of the largest discouragements for home intrusion is alerting aspiring burglars that you use a monitored ADT security system. An ADT yard stick by the front door and a window cling will tell people that they should move on to an unprotected score.

  • Motion Triggered Flood Light Fixtures: Light is the biggest enemy to people who sneak around in the dark. Motion-activated lights on your deck, patio, or garage can help scare possible intruders away. Flood lights also help you see the walk when you get home late at night.

Call Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for Modesto

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t help you with every item on your Modesto home safety checklist, we can discuss a state-of-the-art home security. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can personalize the perfect system for your house’s needs. Just contact (209) 226-4324 for more information or fill out the form below. Or personalize your own ADT system with our Security System Designer.