Madison County, Ohio · London
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves London, West Jefferson and Plain City. 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.
Pipes freeze in Madison County on about 31 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 32% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 6 times a year here, most often in July. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Madison County gets about 6 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 82 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
17% of occupied homes in Madison County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Ohio county median of 15.9%.
With 39 muggy nights a year, mold in Madison County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 44,423 people live in Madison County, 467 square miles in western Ohio, in roughly 16,519 homes. London is the county seat; West Jefferson, Plain City and Choctaw Lake are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1976.
50/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Madison County ranks 44 of 88 Ohio counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Madison County ranks highest compared with other Ohio counties.
For frozen pipes, Madison County is a typical Ohio county, which is still plenty. From 2015–2024 it averaged 31 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 105 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 42nd of 88 counties.
On February 24, 2015 the low fell to about -11°F, and in the stretch ending March 2015 the county went 17 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to March. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 31 and the last spring freeze around Apr 20.
Rainfall is about average for Ohio. The county gets about 41.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 6 days of an inch or more (34th of 88). Those downpours cluster in March, June and July, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.56 inches on May 19, 2020. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 3.66 inches (through September 10, 2018).
About 82 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
Ohio's 88 counties range widely in housing age; Madison ranks 58th, with 55% of its homes built before 1980.
Housing age is mixed: 32% of homes are pre-1960 and 20% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
About 25% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Beyond water
Madison County averages 39 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in July. Keep indoor humidity under 60%, as the EPA advises, and dry any leak within 24 to 48 hours; in a humid month a wet basement left alone won't dry by itself.
Mold remediation: what to expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Madison County it's 52% utility gas, 28% electric, 15% propane and 2% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Madison County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Champaign, Clark and Union get more pipe-freeze nights than Madison. Clark County has the oldest housing nearby, with 77% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Madison | Ohio median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 32% | 37% | 59 of 88 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 55% | 61% | 58 of 88 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 20% | 17% | 27 of 88 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.2% | 5.9% | 56 of 88 |
| Vacant homes | 5% | 8.4% | 79 of 88 |
| Wood or propane heat | 17% | 16% | 42 of 88 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 31/yr | 31/yr | 42 of 88 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6/yr | 5.7/yr | 34 of 88 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 82/yr | 82/yr | 44 of 88 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 39/yr | 35/yr | 27 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 Madison County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in March, 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