Important Areas to Childproof in Your Home

If you’re a part of a growing family, or if you have friends with small children who like to come hang out at your home on a regular basis, one of the most important things you need to do as the homeowner is to take precautionary measures to childproof your home. Accidental injury is extremely common around the home, especially with small children. There are lots of things they can get into, or become injured on. That’s why it’s important to prevent anything you can proactively. Our crew at Handyman Connection of Boise has put together a few tips to help you childproof your home.

In general, it’s important to cover your basis with some general safety measures that can be applied in all areas of your home. There are some very specific safety recommendations for childproofing your home in certain areas of your home such as the kitchen or bathroom, but the following tips and recommendations can be applied in almost every area of your home.

1.   Safety Gates

Use and install safety gates near any staircases or areas that could be dangerous to small children. Make sure that when you install the gates, they are secured as tightly as possible so that they hold up to any children trying to push them over.

2.   Knob and Corner Covers

Be sure to install door knob and corner covers. The knob covers will help prevent your child from getting in a room that isn’t “proofed” and could be unsafe. However, be careful with these as they could slow down an evacuation in the case of an emergency. Corner covers should also be installed on any corner that could easily hurt the child if the child were to bump into it or fall on top of it.

3.   Blind Protection

Try to stay away from blinds with cords that could get tangled around a child’s neck. Install blinds that lock so that the actual blinds themselves don’t cause any potential injury to the child as well.

4.   Safety Latches

Use safety latches on any and all cabinets that you do not want a child getting into. In particular, this is highly recommended for medicine cabinets or cleaning supply cabinets as ingestion of any of those items can be very dangerous.

5.   Furniture Safety

Make sure that when you arrange your furniture that it’s away from dangerous areas in case your child climbs on top of it. For example, keep furniture away from any high placed windows as they can climb onto the windowsill and have the chance to fall through the screen protection of the windows.

6.   Outlet Covers

Be sure to cover any unused outlets with outlet covers so that there is no potential fire hazard and to protect the child from inserting something into the outlet and being shocked.

At Handyman Connection of Boise, our goal is to help make your house a home, and to help keep that home safe. We specialize in all types of home maintenance projects regardless of how big or small the task may be. If you would like to take larger measures to childproof your home, be sure to give us a call and our professionals will be able to help complete the project for you.