Delaware County, Pennsylvania · Media
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Chester, Drexel Hill and Yeadon. 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.
Delaware County averages 16 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to March, and 58% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 9.5 times a year here, most often in December. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
58% 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.
In Delaware County, 4.21 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
3% of occupied homes in Delaware County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Pennsylvania county median of 10%.
About 70 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
With 229,715 homes and around 579,222 residents, Delaware County is 184 square miles of southeast Pennsylvania. The county seat is Media, and Chester, Drexel Hill and Yeadon round out the largest towns. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1957.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Delaware County ranks 8 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Delaware County ranks highest compared with other Pennsylvania counties.
Delaware County is milder than most of Pennsylvania, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 16 nights a year at or below 20°F (66th of 67) and 79 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 7 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near 2°F on January 31, 2019.
The freeze season here runs December to March, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 8 and the last spring freeze around Apr 4.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Pennsylvania. About 9.5 days a year bring an inch or more (15th of 67), most often in December, out of 45.9 inches of total precipitation. On August 5, 2020, 4.21 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.6 inches (through August 6, 2020).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 71 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Pennsylvania's 67 counties range widely in housing age; Delaware ranks 3rd, with 79% of its homes built before 1980.
58% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
Beyond water
About 70 nights a year in Delaware County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (2nd of 67 counties). June is the wettest month. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Delaware County homes break down as 60% utility gas, 23% electric, 3% propane and under 1% 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 Delaware County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Chester and Montgomery get more pipe-freeze nights than Delaware. Philadelphia County has the oldest housing nearby, with 83% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Delaware | Pennsylvania median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 58% | 42% | 4 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 79% | 66% | 3 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 8% | 13% | 63 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 0.3% | 6.6% | 67 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 5.6% | 12% | 54 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 2.7% | 10% | 65 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 16/yr | 37/yr | 66 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.5/yr | 7/yr | 15 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 71/yr | 98/yr | 66 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 70/yr | 16/yr | 2 of 67 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Pennsylvania county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Delaware County: freezing from December to March, heavy rain in June, September and December.
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