Boulder Home Safety
The days are getting longer, and Spring is coming. Now is a good time to review some simple Boulder home safety tips to keep your family and property safe year round. Boulder real estate news author Bob Gordon specializes in residential homes and condos, along the Boulder and Front Range corridor.
Change the Battery in your TV remote control
No seriously, change the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. While the thought of your battery dying in your TV remote might be unsettling – after all, where is the channel control on modern televisions? It is important to change the batteries on the small devices that protect our homes and lives on a daily basis. Take a few minutes to change all the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Don’t throw away the partially used 9 volt batteries – turn ’em over to your kids for their video game controllers. When the batteries are really dead, be sure to properly dispose at your city/county site for hazardous materials (i.e. Don’t throw batteries away in the trash!).
1. Change the battery for every smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector on an annual basis.
Where is the nearest fire extinguisher?
We keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen pantry and another in the basement by the washer and dryer. We’ve never had a concern or need to use one. But it is sort of like carrying a spare tire and jack in your car. You just don’t know when you are going to be in a jam. Boulder home safety is 80% preparation. Having a fire extinguisher you never use is better than wishing you had one you could have used.
2. Place a fire extinguisher in your kitchen, and ideally one on every level of your home. Recharge/replace on an annual basis.
Have your home professionally inspected
An inspection is part of the home buying process. Why not have your house inspected when not selling? It is a great way to find out where to invest your time and energy to improve your property/Boulder home safety. An inspection might bring to light unsafe electrical hookups, open spliced wires, tripping hazards and moisture leaks. Little things you can address to improve the quality of your home and protect your investment.
3. Professional Home Inspections contribute to strong Boulder home safety.
Emergency Contacts List
Keeping a list by your telephone or in a handy location – say your kitchen junk drawer – is a good idea. Sure, you can just dial 911, but having the phone number for poison control handy might just save your life one of these days. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
4. Keep a written list of emergency contacts near your telephone.
Its sort of funny and worth mentioning. When my son was little, our internet went out. We asked him to get the number for our service provider. He stopped in his tracks and demanded, “How? The internet is down.” We didn’t realize it, but up to that point (he was 8 or 9), he had never used a telephone Yellow Pages. Having a list of important phone numbers – family, doctor’s office, insurance agent – takes a few minutes to create and is worthwhile.
Lock the doors, check the windows
My wife tells me, when she was little, her father made her check under the bed when returning home. For the boogeyman? An intruder? I don’t know, but it sounds scary and silly all at the same time. Why not relax by making certain your windows are securely closed and locked. Use deadbolts to secure doors and lock the door between your garage and house. Many break-ins are merely crimes of opportunity – an open window or unlocked door.
5. Deadbolts protect people and homes. Remember to lock the door between your house and the garage – an overlooked and easy entry point to your house.
Additional Safety Suggestions
6. Do you have a fireplace? A safety screen is a good idea. Is your fireplace gas? Newly manufactured fireplaces now have safety coverings for glass that will exceed 172 degrees. Protect your little ones’ fingers!
7. Speaking of little ones, expecting parents, remember to baby proof your house.
8. Annual furnace and hot water tank checks are a good idea. Condo owners (or those with limited space, make certain you are not storing flammable materials in your furnace room. I see this a lot on listings!
9. Consider adding Night Lights in bathrooms
Boulder Real Estate News Recommended Links
- Batteries Plus in Boulder recycles batteries.
- Eco Cycle is a community resource for recycling difficult items.
- More detailed information fire extinguisher and Boulder home safety
- Home Inspection Blog
- Changing batteries on smoke detectors photo blog
- Kids Health offers some great safety lists.