Home Improvement Projects To Make Your Home Safer
Homes are generally safe, but the recent increase in accidents and burglar events necessitate the need for reconsidering your safety measures. Homeowners can improve their houses’ safety by implementing measures that reduce home injuries or fatalities due to falls, accidental poisoning, burglary, and fires.
Install a security system
Installing a conventional security system such as cameras, alarms, sensors, and automatic garage doors assist in deterring petty burglars. However, alarms require a permit with the police department because unregistered alarms may attract fines or jail time.
Sensors at the windows operate on an open and close mechanism, and thus opening it will send you a message or trigger an alarm. Security cameras outside and inside the house, deter and catch intruders. Moreover, you can also reinforce jambs to improve the strength of locks and hinges of external doors. Porch and yard light deter intruders who might sneak undetected into your compound.
Getting lights with motion sensors on all potential entry sites will alert you on the entry of intruders. It would help if you change your home locks often or get a smart lock, especially when moving in a new apartment. Moreover, avoid hiding keys in bushes or taking pictures of your home keys since thieves can make spare keys.
Fall proofing your home
Some of the interventions of making your home safer from falling injuries include installing grab bars in the porch, removing clutter, removing electrical plugs, and placing non-slip mats in wet areas of your house.
Most of the falls at home occur in the kitchen, bathroom, stairs, or porch. Therefore, you should focus on using non-slip mats and handrails to avoid slips. To prevent sliding, flooring in slippery areas should have non-skid mats and strips.
It would help if you got bathroom bars and hand railings for steps in stairs. You should install rail bars in the porch stairs securely grounded to the ground for support. These support structures are available in various shapes such as U-shape, vertical, angle, scroll, LT, and post options. The handrails are firmly rooted in walls or the ground to support your weight.
Moreover, you can have nightlights in bathrooms, hallways, and bedrooms in easy to reach location. You can add motion sensor light at the locks, stairs, and ramps. Switches should be on both the lower and higher ends of the stairs.
Accidental poisoning and fires
You can improve safety at your home by learning first aid, having a first aid kit, medical alert tools, installing carbon monoxide, and fire alarms. You can check your first aid kit, replace expired items, and have allergy suppressing medications such as antihistamines. If you have an elderly or disabled loved one, you can get a medical alert device that sends a distress call to you and ambulatory services.
Most home fires begin from electrical faults, and it is imperative that you electrical proof your home. It would help if you acquired carbon monoxide, fire alarms, extinguishers, and water sprinklers to improve your home safety. A turned on sprinkler system can put off fires when you are not home. Installation of these detectors should be away from ventilation systems and in all levels of the house.
You can protect your home from electrical shocks by installing Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, especially in highly moist rooms. It would help protect the young at home by putting safety caps for all electrical outlets and keeping all appliances out of reach. You should repair or replace damaged cords, install fuse breakers, and use bulbs with the proper wattage.
There are many safety hazards that homeowners face ranging from potential fires, accidents, falls, and burglary. However, you can improve your home’s safety with these simple tips regardless of the risk your home faces.
