Dallas County, Texas · Dallas
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Dallas, Irving and Garland. 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 Dallas County on about 3 nights a year, mostly midwinter. Older homes, 17% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Dallas County averages 13.3 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Dallas County spike on heavy-rain days, about 13.3 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Dallas County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.08 inches.
1% of occupied homes in Dallas County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 139 muggy nights a year, mold in Dallas County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 2,621,179 people live in Dallas County, 873 square miles in eastern Texas, in roughly 1,064,965 homes. The county seat is Dallas, and Irving, Garland and Grand Prairie round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1983.
57/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Dallas County ranks 65 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Dallas County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
For frozen pipes, Dallas County is a typical Texas county, which is still plenty. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 3 nights a year at or below 20°F (94th of 232) and 20 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 8 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about 1°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
With only about 20 freezing nights a year, many homes here aren't built for cold, so a single arctic outbreak can burst pipes across the county. The record low in this data was about 1°F, on February 16, 2021.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. The county gets about 44 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 13.3 days of an inch or more (53rd of 232). Those downpours cluster in April, May and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 5.08 inches on October 24, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 8.92 inches (through October 25, 2015).
Housing
Texas's 232 counties range widely in housing age; Dallas ranks 122nd, with 45% of its homes built before 1980.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 17% predate 1960 and 27% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 28% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Renters occupy 49% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 139 times a year here, close to the Texas county median of 129. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Dallas County it's 36% utility gas, 62% electric, 1% propane and under 1% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Dallas County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Collin and Denton get more pipe-freeze nights than Dallas. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Dallas | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 17% | 20% | 133 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 45% | 46% | 122 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 27% | 26% | 113 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 1.6% | 13% | 231 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 7.7% | 17% | 207 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1% | 6.5% | 227 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 3/yr | 3/yr | 94 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 7.8/yr | 53 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 18/yr | 27/yr | 156 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 139/yr | 129/yr | 87 of 232 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Texas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Dallas County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in April, May and October.
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