Grayson County, Texas · Sherman
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Grayson County averages 5 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly January, and 20% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Grayson County averages 12.9 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Grayson County gets about 12.9 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 32 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
7% of occupied homes in Grayson County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Texas county median of 6.5%.
About 127 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 62,132 homes and around 143,337 residents, Grayson County is 933 square miles of northeast Texas. Besides Sherman, the county seat, the biggest communities are Denison, Van Alstyne and Whitesboro. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
64/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Grayson County ranks 19 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Grayson County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Grayson is on the colder side of Texas for pipes. It averaged 35 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 5 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 232 Texas counties that's 54th.
On February 16, 2021 the low fell to about -2°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 10 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 January. 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 Nov 15 and the last spring freeze around Feb 28.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. The county gets about 45.3 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 12.9 days of an inch or more (56th of 232). Those downpours cluster in April, May and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 5.86 inches on September 22, 2018. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.64 inches (through September 23, 2018).
About 32 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
Roughly 44% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Grayson near the middle of Texas's 232 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 32% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
About 25% 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.
Renters occupy 33% 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
About 127 nights a year in Grayson County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (124th of 232 counties). May is the wettest month. 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 Grayson County it's 32% utility gas, 60% electric, 6% 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 Grayson County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Grayson gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Cooke County has the oldest housing nearby, with 46% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Grayson | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 20% | 20% | 109 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 44% | 46% | 133 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 32% | 26% | 73 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 8.9% | 13% | 169 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 11% | 17% | 179 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7% | 6.5% | 111 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 5/yr | 3/yr | 54 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 7.8/yr | 56 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 32/yr | 27/yr | 93 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 127/yr | 129/yr | 124 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 Grayson County: freezing from January, 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