Manistee County, Michigan · Manistee
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Manistee, Parkdale and Kaleva. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
With 34% of homes built before 1960 and about 56 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
August brings the most downpours to Manistee County, part of 4 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Manistee County gets about 4 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Manistee County, 2.51 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
37% of occupied homes in Manistee County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Michigan county median of 29%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 8 times a year in Manistee County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Manistee County covers 542 square miles of central Lower Michigan, with about 25,350 residents and 15,713 homes. The county seat is Manistee, and Parkdale, Kaleva and Oak Hill round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1972, half after.
54/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Manistee County ranks 34 of 83 Michigan counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Manistee County ranks highest compared with other Michigan counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Manistee County sits near the middle of the state. From 2015–2024 it averaged 56 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 149 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 39th of 83 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 24 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -16°F on February 20, 2015.
The freeze season here runs November to April, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 19 and end around May 8.
Rainfall is about average for Michigan. Of roughly 35.1 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 4 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 36th of 83. July, August and October see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.51 inches, July 21, 2019. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.67 inches, ending October 25, 2017, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 99 days a year swing from below freezing at night to above freezing by day. Those freeze-thaw cycles feed ice dams on roofs, open cracks in foundations and driveways, and stress pipes that are already marginal.
Housing
Michigan's 83 counties range widely in housing age; Manistee ranks 33rd, with 62% of its homes built before 1980.
The mix runs from 34% built before 1960 to 17% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 8% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
With 33% of homes empty at survey time, landlords and seasonal owners should shut off the main or schedule checks in winter. An unheated vacant house is also where many policies limit freeze coverage.
Beyond water
About 8 nights a year in Manistee County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (44th of 83 counties). October is the wettest month. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Manistee County homes break down as 51% utility gas, 9% electric, 28% propane and 9% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than in most Michigan counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Manistee County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Benzie, Lake and Wexford get more pipe-freeze nights than Manistee. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Manistee | Michigan median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 34% | 32% | 35 of 83 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 62% | 58% | 33 of 83 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 17% | 16% | 39 of 83 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.5% | 7.3% | 37 of 83 |
| Vacant homes | 33% | 20% | 24 of 83 |
| Wood or propane heat | 37% | 29% | 32 of 83 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 56/yr | 54/yr | 39 of 83 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 4/yr | 3.9/yr | 36 of 83 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 99/yr | 95/yr | 27 of 83 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 8/yr | 10/yr | 44 of 83 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Michigan county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Manistee County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in July, August and October.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024); weather from NOAA nClimGrid-Daily county averages (EpiNOAA), 2015–2024, averaged across the county; county boundaries from Census TIGER. Reviewed 2026-10-21. Methodology