Overton County, Tennessee · Livingston
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Livingston and Hilham. 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 Overton County on about 14 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 19% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in February. Overton County averages 15.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Overton County gets about 15.5 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 65 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
17% of occupied homes in Overton County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Tennessee county median of 7.8%.
With 57 muggy nights a year, mold in Overton County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Overton County covers 433 square miles of northern Tennessee, with about 23,065 residents and 10,406 homes. Besides Livingston, the county seat, the biggest community is Hilham. The county's median home was built in 1983.
70/100 Water Damage Risk Index: High Overton County ranks 5 of 95 Tennessee counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Overton County ranks highest compared with other Tennessee counties.
Overton is on the colder side of Tennessee for pipes. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 14 nights a year at or below 20°F (12th of 95) and 72 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 5 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2015. The coldest night reached about -7°F on January 17, 2024. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. 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 29 and the last spring freeze around Apr 13.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Tennessee. About 15.5 days a year bring an inch or more (18th of 95), most often in February, out of 60 inches of total precipitation. On March 28, 2021, 3.58 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.37 inches (through September 29, 2024).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 65 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
Tennessee's 95 counties range widely in housing age; Overton ranks 30th, with 46% of its homes built before 1980.
The mix runs from 19% built before 1960 to 26% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
About 28% 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.
20% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Tennessee county median of 15.9%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 57 times a year here, below the Tennessee county median of 74. 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, Overton County homes break down as 9% utility gas, 72% electric, 10% propane and 7% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Overton County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Fentress and Pickett get more pipe-freeze nights than Overton. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Overton | Tennessee median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 19% | 16% | 27 of 95 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 46% | 41% | 30 of 95 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 26% | 27% | 55 of 95 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 20% | 16% | 31 of 95 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 12% | 41 of 95 |
| Wood or propane heat | 17% | 7.8% | 16 of 95 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 14/yr | 11/yr | 12 of 95 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 14/yr | 18 of 95 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 65/yr | 60/yr | 24 of 95 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 57/yr | 74/yr | 78 of 95 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Tennessee county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Overton County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, July 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