Muskingum County, Ohio · Zanesville
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With 37% of homes built before 1960 and about 28 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Muskingum County averages 6.3 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
37% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
Muskingum County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.27 inches, and about 86 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
10% of occupied homes in Muskingum County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Ohio county median of 15.9%.
With 35 muggy nights a year, mold in Muskingum County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Muskingum County covers 665 square miles of eastern Ohio, with about 86,411 residents and 38,357 homes. Zanesville is the county seat; North Zanesville, New Concord and South Zanesville are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1972, half after.
47/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Muskingum County ranks 53 of 88 Ohio counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Muskingum County ranks highest compared with other Ohio counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Ohio, and pipes still freeze. From 2015–2024 it averaged 28 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 106 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 63rd of 88 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 14 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -11°F on February 24, 2015.
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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 27 and end around Apr 20.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Ohio. The county gets about 43.3 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 6.3 days of an inch or more (29th of 88). Those downpours cluster in March, April and June, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.27 inches on November 6, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.95 inches, ending September 10, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 86 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; Muskingum ranks 45th, with 61% of its homes built before 1980.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 37% predate 1960 and 17% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
About 22% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 9% 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 10% 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
Muskingum County averages 35 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Muskingum County homes break down as 55% utility gas, 29% electric, 7% propane and 3% 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 Muskingum County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Coshocton, Guernsey, Licking, Noble and Perry get more pipe-freeze nights than Muskingum. Coshocton County has the oldest housing nearby, with 67% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Muskingum | Ohio median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 37% | 37% | 42 of 88 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 61% | 61% | 45 of 88 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 17% | 17% | 42 of 88 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 8.8% | 5.9% | 26 of 88 |
| Vacant homes | 10% | 8.4% | 26 of 88 |
| Wood or propane heat | 10% | 16% | 62 of 88 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 28/yr | 31/yr | 63 of 88 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.3/yr | 5.7/yr | 29 of 88 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 86/yr | 82/yr | 20 of 88 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 35/yr | 35/yr | 42 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 Muskingum County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in March, April and June.
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