Kaufman County, Texas · Kaufman
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Forney, Terrell and Heartland. 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 Kaufman County on about 3 nights a year, mostly midwinter. Older homes, 6% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Kaufman County averages 12.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Kaufman County spike on heavy-rain days, about 12.5 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Kaufman County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.61 inches, and about 22 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
5% of occupied homes in Kaufman County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 134 muggy nights a year, mold in Kaufman County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 54,130 homes and around 172,604 residents, Kaufman County is 781 square miles of eastern Texas. Besides Kaufman, the county seat, the biggest communities are Forney, Terrell and Heartland. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 2005.
44/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Kaufman County ranks 171 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Kaufman County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
For frozen pipes, Kaufman 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 24 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 8 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near 0°F on February 16, 2021.
With only about 24 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 0°F, on February 16, 2021.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. Of roughly 44.6 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 12.5 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 62nd of 232. April, May and October see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 5.61 inches, October 24, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 9.01 inches (through October 25, 2015).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 22 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
Roughly 17% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Kaufman among the newer housing stocks of Texas's 232 counties.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 61% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
Here 11% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 134 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Kaufman County homes break down as 29% utility gas, 66% electric, 4% 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 Kaufman County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Hunt gets more pipe-freeze nights than Kaufman. Dallas County has the oldest housing nearby, with 45% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Kaufman | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 6.2% | 20% | 217 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 17% | 46% | 224 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 61% | 26% | 5 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 11% | 13% | 150 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 5.8% | 17% | 221 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.5% | 6.5% | 147 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 | 62 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 22/yr | 27/yr | 135 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 134/yr | 129/yr | 103 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 Kaufman 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