By The Home Depot
Your home is where you spend most of your time, where you sleep, where you keep all your precious belongings — so it makes sense that you want it to feel consistently safe and protected. Fortunately, advances in technology allow you to keep your home safe in ways you never even thought about before! It’s a wonderful thing because having that added security can make a huge difference in your quality of life.
Two of the biggest threats to home safety are fire damage and break-ins. By making some smart changes, you can control and reduce the chances that either of these will bring harm to your home.
Fire Protection
Fires can cause devastating damage to your home and belongings and can be very expensive to recover from. The good news is that if you take precautionary measures, you can greatly reduce your chances of suffering from fire damage. Most homes and apartments already come equipped with standard smoke detectors, but if you want added protection and a smarter home, you should consider taking some simple precautions.
Fire Safety
Not only is it smart to have smoke alarms in each bedroom and on each floor in the hallway, but it’s also important to have alarms that are interconnected. This way, if one goes off, they all go off throughout the house so you can be sure to hear them.
You should also make sure to replace your alarms every 10 years to ensure they are working properly and are meeting fire safety code. Some alarms have a 10-year sealed lithium-ion battery so you never need to worry about changing batteries (or having to hear those disruptive low-battery “chirps” in the middle of the night!). After 10 years, you just replace the whole alarm instead of the battery. You can also replace all the alarms in your house at the same time every 10 years so you don’t have to worry about when each one is going to expire.
Smoke Detectors
The Nest Protect Wired Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector has an industrial-grade smoke sensor and sends alerts to you on your phone if it detects an issue. You can check its status via your Nest app, and it can speak to you to tell you what and where the problem is located. The Nest Protect Battery Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector is another great option. Instead of being wired into the walls, it runs on batteries — which can be helpful in the event of power outages. It has all the features of the wired smoke detector and will also run and protect you even if the power is out — just remember to replace the batteries as often as necessary.
Fire Extinguishers
Another important way to reduce the chances of dangerous fires causing damage to your home is to make sure you have fire extinguishers on hand. Every home needs at least one fire extinguisher, and depending on the size of your home, it’s best to have two or three. Always keep one in the kitchen — where most home fires occur. You can also place one by the front and rear exits of the house where they can be easily reached. This can help prevent a small fire from turning into a huge one.
Home Security
In addition to protection from fire damage, you also want to keep your home safe from intruders. There are a number of smart home security products you can install in order to improve the safety of your home, including Wi-Fi video cameras, video doorbell systems and security lights. The Ring Video Wireless Doorbell is an excellent option that allows you to see and talk to visitors — even when you’re away from home. It’s Wi-Fi enabled and has a high-definition camera that streams live audio and video so you can check on your home from anywhere. It connects with your smartphone or tablet and can send you alerts regarding the motion sensors outside your home.
Another helpful product is the Kwikset Lock with Smartkey technology. It is easy to install, and the SmartKey feature lets you set the lock to work with your existing keys. That means you don’t need to have a locksmith come out to change a lock and re-key it for you since you can easily do it yourself.
The way we live is changing. These days, we have to option to make our homes more comfortable and more efficient. Upgrading to a smart home has many benefits, including a greater peace of mind, and you should never take chances when it comes to your home safety. And with these know-how and innovative products you can only get at The Home Depot, our homes can be smarter now than they’ve ever been. This is the next generation of home improvement.