Allen County, Ohio · Lima
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Lima, Delphos and Fort Shawnee. 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 43% of homes built before 1960 and about 33 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 6 times a year here, most often in June. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Allen County gets about 6 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Allen County, 2.94 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
11% of occupied homes in Allen County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Ohio county median of 15.9%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 41 times a year in Allen County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 44,791 homes and around 101,348 residents, Allen County is 403 square miles of western Ohio. Lima is the county seat; Delphos, Fort Shawnee and Bluffton are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1966, half after.
70/100 Water Damage Risk Index: High Allen County ranks 5 of 88 Ohio counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Allen County ranks highest compared with other Ohio counties.
Allen County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Ohio. It averaged 105 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 33 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 88 Ohio counties that's 27th.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 19 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -11°F on January 31, 2019.
Most freezing nights fall from November to March, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 31 and end around Apr 20.
Rainfall is about average for Ohio. About 6 days a year bring an inch or more (34th of 88), most often in June, out of 41 inches of total precipitation. On June 27, 2015, 2.94 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.85 inches, ending June 28, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 76 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
Roughly 73% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Allen among the oldest housing stocks of Ohio's 88 counties.
Before 1960 is when 43% of these homes went up. Galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains were standard then, and after 60-plus years both corrode and crack, often out of sight inside a wall or under a slab.
Renters occupy 32% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
About 41 nights a year in Allen County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (19th of 88 counties). June 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 expectMain heating fuel in Allen County's occupied homes: 64% utility gas, 24% electric, 10% propane and 1% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Allen County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Auglaize and Van Wert get more pipe-freeze nights than Allen. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Allen | Ohio median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 43% | 37% | 21 of 88 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 73% | 61% | 12 of 88 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 11% | 17% | 74 of 88 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.3% | 5.9% | 55 of 88 |
| Vacant homes | 7.8% | 8.4% | 51 of 88 |
| Wood or propane heat | 11% | 16% | 59 of 88 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 33/yr | 31/yr | 27 of 88 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6/yr | 5.7/yr | 34 of 88 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 76/yr | 82/yr | 73 of 88 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 41/yr | 35/yr | 19 of 88 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Ohio county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Allen County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in April, June and July.
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