ADT® Authorized Dealer Serving San Jose & All Of Silicon Valley

Home Safety Checklist For San Jose

Staying safe and secure in your residence should be your largest responsibility. But are you overlooking a few big safety components? Use this home safety checklist for San Jose and see where your living space requires greater attention.

This guide begins with five whole-house safety techniques, and then we break it down to specific room ideas. Then, phone (408) 641-3351 or complete the form below for additional information.

Whole Home Safety Checklist

Essential Home Safety Checklist for San Jose

While you will want to take a room-by-room method for home safety in San Jose, there are some things that work for a lot of your rooms. These devices can sync to each other through a smart hub, and oftentimes react to other things. You can also manage all your home safety equipment with a mobile app, such as ADT Control:

  • Monitored Home Security System: Each one of your doors and windows should employ a sensor that warns you and your family to a break-in. When the alarm triggers, your monitoring team responds to the call and sends the police or fire department.

  • Smart Bulbs For Every Major Room: Of course, you can program your smart lighting to become more eco-conscience. But smart lights can also allow you to keep safe during an emergency. Make your downstairs lights flash on when a security alarm goes off to shoo off robbers or illuminate your way to a secure location.

  • Smart Thermostat: Like your smart lights, a smart thermostat in San Jose should save you 10%-15% in utility costs. It also can flip on the exhaust fan during a fire.

  • Monitored Smoke Detectors: At the very least, you should have a fire detector on every level of your house. You can increase your fire game by utilizing a monitored fire alarm that senses excessive smoke and heat, and pings your round-the-clock monitoring agents when it detects a fire.

  • Smart Lock For Every Door: Every door that needs a deadbolt can be made safer with a smart lock. Now you can preset key codes to family and friends and receive texts to your smartphone when they are unlocked. Your smart lock can even automatically open, letting you quickly flee the house if you have an emergency.

Family Room Safety Checklist

Family Room/Living Room Safety Checklist For San Jose

You’ll hang out most in the family room, so it may be the most reasonable room to start making your house safer. Highly sought after items, like a big screen or video games, probably reside in your living room, making it an alluring space for robbers. Start with installing a motion detector or indoor camera by the doorway, then continue on with some of these safety protocols:

  • Motion Detectors: By hanging motion detectors, you’ll get a loud siren if they detect unexpected movement within your living room. Look for motion detectors that aren’t set off by a dog or cat or you’ll get your sirens go off every time your cat comes in for a bite of food.

  • Indoor Security Camera: An indoor security camera offers a visual on your family room. Watch live streams of everything so you can find out what’s going on without leaving your bed. Or chat with your kids in the family room by using the two-way talk feature.

  • Surge Protector/Outlet Maintenance: Safeguard those electronics and quit overtaxing your outlets with a surge protector. For added comfort, set up a smart plug with surge protection in the unit.

  • Heavy Furniture Secured To The Wall: If you have curious kids, you’ll want to bolt your heavy furniture and entertainment center to the wall. This is extra important if your family room uses carpeting that might make objects extra unbalanced.

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

Kitchen Safety Checklist

Kitchen Safety Checklist For San Jose

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

  • Fire Extinguisher: Fire can come from from a neglected frying pan or a faulty burner. Always store a fire extinguisher in close reach for any stove or oven mishaps.

  • GFCI Box On Each Outlet: A circuit interrupter outlet should be installed everywhere they’re close to running water to ward off a deadly shock. That means the outlets close to your sink and kitchen counter. Since the late ‘80s, it’s been required to have one circuit interrupter outlet per dedicated circuit. But for simplicity’s sake, try to have an unchained GFCI per outlet.

  • Monitored CO Detector: A CO detector is handy in the kitchen if you use a gas oven and stove. If your gas lines leak, the CO detector will cause a loud, buzzing noise and ping your monitoring expert.

  • Cleaning Wipes Or Spray: The biggest safety issue in the kitchen is the invisible bacteria and contamination from raw meat and vegetables. Always keep disinfectant wipes or a bleach spray to clean your area before and after making a meal.

  • Refrigerator Alarm: The items in your fridge need to remain at a cold temperature to be healthy to consume. If you leave the refrigerator door open too long, then an alarm beep will remind you to close the door. Some fridges come with a pre-installed alarm, others don’t, and you’ll have to get a fridge alarm from the store.

Bathroom Safety Checklist

Bathroom Safety Checklist For San Jose

Just because you don’t a lot of room in your bathroom there’s still safety hazards. From flood prevention to electric safety, here are some safety improvements for your bathroom:

  • Flood Detectors: A leaking toilet or bathtub can create a whole lot of water damage. Find out early about pooling water with a flood detector and save hundreds to thousands of dollars from damage.

  • Non-slip Bath Mats: A fall in the bathroom can be painful, causing pulled muscles, gashed heads, or sprained ankles. Make sure you avoid these hazards with a non-slip bath mat for after your bath or shower.

  • Textured Bathtub Stickies: Like a tiled floor, a tub can be a slippery surface to move in. Make sure each has some no-slip stickies so your feet have a bumpy patch for stability.

  • Medicine Door Lock: If you have little kids or someone with memory lapses, you should take extra care regarding prescription medicine. Hide away your pills and syrups by using a medicine cabinet with a latch that locks.

  • Circuit Interrupter Outlet: Just like the kitchen, you need to also install a grounded circuit interrupter outlet on each bathroom circuit. This will cut the electric current if they ever get wet or there’s an unusual spike from a hair dryer or curling iron.

Child's Bedroom Safety Checklist

Child’s Bedroom Safety Checklist For San Jose

Your child’s bedroom should balance safety with simplicity. If their window shades or other items are safe but tricky to use, then your child may get around the device with unsafe methods -- like scale a chest of drawers -- to open them. Try these straightforward, yet safe, ideas:

  • Cord-Free Window Treatments: Safety professionals have identified window treatment cords a hidden hazard for children and animals. Use motorized treatments that your child can easily manage via remote. Or better yet, pair your motorized coverings to your security system so they open automatically when the sun comes up, and lower at bedtime for extra privacy.

  • Tableside Security Camera: A security camera perched on your kid’s desk can double as a high tech baby monitor that you can see with a smartphone. And if they want your help, they can push the 2-way talk button on the camera.

  • Plug Covers: While every outlet should have outlet safety caps on them when you have young children, this is doubly needed in their bedroom. It’s the main place in your home where your children will most likely be solo without consistent adult supervision.

  • Window Fire Ladder: If you use bedrooms on above the first story, then you will want to have a window escape ladder. These will help a child escape even if the stairway or ground floor are on fire. Just remember to practice how to unfurl them one or two times a year.

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

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist

Master Bedroom Safety Checklist For San Jose

The bedroom should be a refuge, so let your safety components make you more responsive if you experience an emergency. After all, being jerked awake by a high-decibel buzzer can be quite a shock.

  • Smart Hub Touchscreen: Having a touchscreen on your nightstand helps you know what’s going on without jumping out of bed. You could also use your ADT smartphone app. However, the touchscreen is often better to use when you’re bleary-eyed and confused.

  • Device Charging Stand: We use our phones for almost everything now GPS, internet searches, game machines, and sometimes even phones. The only problem is that a dead cell can cut us off from communications if during an emergency. To keep it nice and ready, a an easy-to-use charging station becomes should be used nightly.

  • Nightlights Or Voice Activated Smart Lights: A small light can be a beacon when you’re jolted awake from an alarm or unexpected sounds. If you can’t fall asleep with a nightlight, install smart lights in your bedroom and hall. Then you can get light anytime with a mobile device or voice command.

  • Fireproof Lockbox: Stash your vital papers like social security cards, medical information, or banking information in a fireproof safe. Your lockbox can be a bigger one that sits out of the way or a slender handheld lockbox that you can grab when you leave during a fire or break-in.

  • Temperature Sensor: The drawback with most bedrooms is that they can feel too hot or be chilly since they are located across the house from the thermostat. A heat sensor will talk to your smart thermostat so you should have a nice, peaceful sleep at the perfect climate.

Garage Safety Checklist

Garage/Basement Safety Checklist For San Jose

Most safety needs in the garage or basement are with your water heater or furnace. Seeing issues early can stave away bigger problems later on. So, as you look around your storage areas, take note of these safety items:

  • Flood Detector Or Sump Pump Alarm: Placing a flood sensor in back of your water heater and sump pump can prevent you from wading into a lake when you go into your basement or garage. The last you need is to spend the weekend drying your floor and sorting through all those soggy boxes.

  • Carbon Monoxide Alarm: It’s nice to have a carbon monoxide detector in a place where a gas leak can happen. If you have a gas furnace, try to hang a detector in the same room as your unit.

  • WiFi Water Shutoff Valve: If your water sensor senses a hot water leak or a broken pipe, then you will want to cut off the main water line at once. With a remote shutoff valve, you can turn off your water flow from your phone. That’s perfect when you’re on vacation and receive an emergency leak notification on your phone.

  • Garage Door Sensor: Leaving the garage door open leads to all types of headaches. You can waste HVAC energy through that open door, and rodents or intruders can just walk in. A remote sensor will alert you to a neglected garage door and lets you lower it with your phone.

  • Heat Sensor: A temperature alarm in your garage or basement is essential if you wonder about frozen pipes. The temperature in these rooms can be wildly different than the main part of the home, so you may need to maintain a constant look on them through your security mobile app.

Outside perimeter checklist

Outside Perimeter Safety Checklist for San Jose

Your yard, drive, and front step are just as crucial to defend as the rest of your house. Try the items on this checklist to make your outside safe:

  • Outdoor Security Camera: You can hang outdoor cameras to guard against unusual lurkers in your back yard. These devices come in handy in areas where you might not have a window -- like around a cellar or by the driveway.

  • Low Bushes: Overgrown foliage can create some solitude, but they also obscure your view of the outside. Don’t give potential thieves a place to hide. Plus, large shrubs or foliage against your house can obstruct gutters and invite pests.

  • ADT Yard Signs: One of the biggest discouragements for a thief is advertising to potential burglars that you own a monitored ADT security system. An ADT yard sign by the main walk and a window sticker will alert ne'er-do-wells that they might want to shove off to an easier score.

  • Motion Triggered Porch Light Fixtures: Light is the largest enemy to people who lurk in the dark. Motion-controlled lights on your porch, garage, or deck can shoo possible intruders away. Flood lights also help you see the walk when you get to the house on those dark, winter nights.

Use Secure24 Alarm Systems To Help Complete Your Home Safety Checklist for San Jose

While Secure24 Alarm Systems can’t install every item on your San Jose home safety checklist, we can offer a powerful home security. With easy-to-use devices and ADT monitoring, we can personalize the perfect system for your home’s needs. Simply phone (408) 641-3351 and talk to a professional or complete the form below. Or customize your own solution with our Security System Designer.