Wilson County, Tennessee · Lebanon
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Lebanon, Mount Juliet and Green Hill. 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 Wilson County on about 11 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 7% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in February. Wilson County averages 14.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Wilson County spike on heavy-rain days, about 14.7 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 59 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
4% of occupied homes in Wilson County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Tennessee county median of 7.8%.
About 79 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
Wilson County covers 571 square miles of northern Tennessee, with about 158,805 residents and 63,031 homes. Lebanon is the county seat; Mount Juliet, Green Hill and Gladeville are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 2000.
41/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Wilson County ranks 76 of 95 Tennessee counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wilson County ranks highest compared with other Tennessee counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Wilson County sits near the middle of the state. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 11 nights a year at or below 20°F (45th of 95) and 65 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
On January 17, 2024 the low fell to about -6°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 8 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 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.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 4 and end around Apr 2.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Tennessee. About 14.7 days a year bring an inch or more (32nd of 95), most often in February, out of 56.3 inches of total precipitation. On March 28, 2021, 4.21 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 5.79 inches, ending March 28, 2021, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 59 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; Wilson ranks 93rd, with 24% of its homes built before 1980.
50% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Tennessee. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
About 27% 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
Wilson County averages 79 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in February. 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 Wilson County it's 36% utility gas, 59% electric, 3% propane and under 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 Wilson County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Cannon, DeKalb, Smith, Sumner and Trousdale get more pipe-freeze nights than Wilson. Smith County has the oldest housing nearby, with 43% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wilson | Tennessee median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 6.7% | 16% | 93 of 95 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 24% | 41% | 93 of 95 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 50% | 27% | 3 of 95 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 5.2% | 16% | 86 of 95 |
| Vacant homes | 6.2% | 12% | 90 of 95 |
| Wood or propane heat | 3.7% | 7.8% | 78 of 95 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 11/yr | 11/yr | 45 of 95 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 15/yr | 14/yr | 32 of 95 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 59/yr | 60/yr | 58 of 95 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 79/yr | 74/yr | 36 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 Wilson County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, March 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