The two-hour walkthrough that finds what could hurt your family

You check your home by walking it once, in order, testing every device that's supposed to protect you and looking at every spot where someone could burn, fall, get shocked or breathe something bad. Budget two hours. Most fixes run under fifty dollars, and the few that don't are the ones you'd want to know about anyway.

Bring a flashlight, a step stool, a notepad and a nine-volt battery, since you'll probably need one. Start at the ceiling and work down.

1. Test every smoke and carbon monoxide alarm

Press the test button on each one. Then take it off the ceiling and read the date on the back. The National Fire Protection Association says to replace smoke alarms when they hit ten years old, whatever the test button says. No date means it's old. Replace it.

You want one inside every bedroom, one outside each sleeping area and one on every level, basement included. A basic smoke alarm runs about ten to thirty dollars. A sealed ten-year lithium-battery model costs a little more and ends the midnight chirping for a decade.

Carbon monoxide alarms go on every level and outside the bedrooms. They're about twenty to fifty dollars, and they wear out too. Check the manufacturer's date, because the lifespan varies by model.

Rules differ by state. Many require CO alarms in homes with gas appliances or an attached garage, and some require them at sale or rental. Your state fire marshal's website lists what applies where you live. If you rent, your landlord is usually responsible for working alarms. Ask in writing.

2. Check the fire basics in the kitchen and laundry room

Find your fire extinguisher. If you can't, that's the finding. Buy a multipurpose one rated for A, B and C fires, about thirty to sixty dollars, and mount it near an exit rather than above the stove where a fire would block you from it. Check that the gauge needle sits in the green.

Then pull the dryer out and look behind it. Clogged lint in the vent is a leading cause of dryer fires, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. Clean the lint trap every load. Clean the vent duct itself at least once a year. A vent brush kit costs around twenty dollars. A professional cleaning typically runs more.

Agree on an escape plan while you're standing there. Two ways out of every bedroom, one meeting spot outside, and everybody has walked it once.

3. Test the electrical outlets that sit near water

Ground fault circuit interrupter outlets are the ones with the two small buttons. Current electrical code calls for them in kitchens, bathrooms, garages, outdoors and unfinished basements. Press "test." The outlet should click off. Press "reset." If it doesn't trip, it isn't protecting anybody.

A replacement GFCI outlet is about fifteen to twenty-five dollars. Swapping one is a standard homeowner job if you kill the breaker first and confirm the power is dead. But permit and licensing rules vary by state and city, and some places require a licensed electrician for any electrical work. Check before you pick up a screwdriver.

Hand the following to an electrician without trying anything yourself:

• Outlets or switch plates that feel warm
• Lights that flicker for no reason
• A burning smell near a panel or outlet
• Two-prong outlets in an older house
• Breakers that trip repeatedly

4. Turn down the water heater

Find the dial or the thermostat on the tank. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends setting it no higher than 120 degrees. Hotter than that, a scald can happen in seconds, and small children and older relatives get hurt first. At 120 it takes minutes.

Run the hot tap for a minute and check the water with a cooking thermometer. While you're down there, locate the main water shutoff and make sure everyone old enough knows where it is. If you haven't done that, this walkthrough on shutting off the water main will take ten minutes.

5. Look for fall hazards in the places you walk without looking

Falls injure far more people at home than any of the dramatic hazards do. Check these:

• Stairs: every step solid, a handrail that doesn't wobble, and a light switch at both ends
• Rugs: nonslip pad under every loose one, or the rug goes
• Bathrooms: a mat in the tub and, for anyone older or unsteady, a grab bar anchored into a stud, not a suction-cup model
• Cords: nothing running across a walking path

Do the stairs at night with the lights off except the ones you actually use. That's where you find the problem.

6. Anchor what can tip, and cut what can strangle

Dressers, bookcases and televisions fall on children. The CPSC runs an Anchor It! campaign on tip-over injuries. Anchor straps cost a few dollars, and the job takes ten minutes and a stud finder.

Then check your blinds. Looped cords are a strangulation risk to small children. Federal rules now require stock blinds to be cordless or have inaccessible cords. Older ones are still hanging in plenty of houses. Manufacturers and the Window Covering Safety Council have offered free retrofit kits, or you can swap in cordless.

7. Lock up what's dangerous

Medications, cleaners, lawn chemicals and anything in an unmarked bottle go up high or behind a latch. If a child swallows something, get medical help right away.

Firearms get the same treatment, and responsible owners already know it. A gun not in your hand should be unloaded and locked, or locked and quick-access if it's your bedside defense gun. A biometric or keypad lockbox runs roughly fifty to a couple hundred dollars. A real safe costs more. Storage and child-access laws differ by state, so know yours. A lock on the gun is part of owning one, not a restriction on it.

8. Test for radon and check your recalls

Radon is a colorless, odorless gas from soil that seeps into basements and ground floors. The EPA's action level is 4 picocuries per liter. A short-term kit, about fifteen to thirty dollars at a hardware store, sits in your lowest lived-in level for a few days and mails off to a lab. Many state radon offices sell discounted kits. If the result tops 4, a mitigation system typically costs somewhere between eight hundred and twenty-five hundred dollars depending on the house. Some states require radon disclosure when you sell.

If your home was built before 1978, the EPA also says to assume lead paint is possible. Don't sand or scrape old paint until you've tested it. Contractors who disturb it in older homes must be EPA lead-safe certified.

Last, search your space heaters, cribs, ladders and big appliances on the CPSC's recall page at cpsc.gov. Takes five minutes. Report a faulty product at SaferProducts.gov.

The mistake that undoes all of it

You assume the gear on the ceiling works because it's there.

A green light on a smoke alarm means it has power. It doesn't mean the sensor still works. A ten-year-old alarm can look perfect and be useless. People buy the extinguisher, hang the CO detector, then never press a button again. A dead battery and an expired sensor feel identical until the one night they matter.

Put it on the calendar. Test the alarms the first of every month. Do this whole walkthrough when the clocks change, twice a year, and keep the receipts and manuals together in a fire-resistant box with your birth certificates and Social Security cards, so the paperwork survives the thing you're guarding against.

Two hours on a Saturday. Everything after is a lot cheaper than the alternative.