Is your home safe? It’s a simple question but one that many people never think about. Get the information you need to answer it by checking the outside of your home and doing several other things that can instantly ramp up the safety factor. Consider the following points.
Do an Exterior Walk Around
How difficult is it to take a quick walk around the perimeter of your house? The easy task takes less than 15 minutes as you make notes about any obvious signs of dangerous features. What should people be looking for when they do a visual inspection like this? Start with eyeballing the roof’s general condition. Loose shingles and chimney bricks can be early signs of future trouble. Next, look under eaves for wood decay, along gutters for loose fittings, around the foundation for gaps, and at overhanging tree limbs. All present potential dangers. Don’t try to fix anything during the walk around. The goal is to make a list and use it when you hire a licensed contractor to do repair work.
Install a Home Elevator
Installing a home elevator might not be the first thing people think of when ruminating about home-based safety precautions. However, the decision to install a top brand, like home elevators from Lifton, can be a game changer for anyone who opts to do so. The chic transport units not only add a major element of class to a house, they also render stairs obsolete. That’s great news for older and disabled who have no use for climbing staircases and risking a fall. Plus, as technology has advanced and more people are choosing to install home elevators, prices have come down in the past decade, and the devices are no longer a rarity in modern homes. The bottom-line safety factor is directly related to eliminating the need to climb stairs.
Check High-Risk Areas
After completing the outdoor visual inspection, conduct a thorough indoor examination of all areas where someone might fall, slip, or harm themselves in other ways. Again, make a written list that includes things like slick flooring zones, worn rug edges, uneven or creaky stairs, loose railings, countertops, or other edges that contain sharp points, and more. Stairway carpeting should get extra attention as it is a common cause of serious falls. Be ready to replace frayed carpets that could cause a person to trip. At least once every two years, hire a licensed electrician to do a full-scale wiring inspection.
Write an Escape Plan
Escape plans are detailed strategies for getting out of your house in a fire, flood, explosion, earthquake, or another disaster that calls for a quick exit. Make sure you have at least one fire extinguisher on every level of the home and that all older children and adults know how to put out small blazes. Everyone should be aware of how to call 911 and when it’s appropriate to do so. Assign a standard place for gathering after an emergency departure, so you’ll know everyone got out safely. Maintain a fireproof document box and make a list of items to remove during an emergency if time allows.