Giles County, Virginia · Pearisburg
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Giles County averages 25 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 40% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in September. Giles County averages 7.9 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Giles County spike on heavy-rain days, about 7.9 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 93 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
10% of occupied homes in Giles County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Virginia county median of 11.9%.
With 10 muggy nights a year, mold in Giles County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Giles County covers 357 square miles of southwest Virginia, with about 16,557 residents and 8,338 homes. The county seat is Pearisburg, and Narrows, Pembroke and Rich Creek round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1972, half after.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Giles County ranks 10 of 95 Virginia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Giles County ranks highest compared with other Virginia counties.
Giles County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Virginia. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 25 nights a year at or below 20°F (5th of 95) and 104 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 9 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -6°F on February 21, 2015. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
The freeze season here runs November to March, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 24 and end around Apr 21.
Giles gets fewer downpours than most Virginia counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 44.9 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 7.9 days of an inch or more (80th of 95). Those downpours cluster in April, May and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.79 inches on October 24, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 5.17 inches, ending September 28, 2024, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 93 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
61% of homes in Giles County predate 1980, above the Virginia county median of 46.2%, which ranks 5th of Virginia's 95 counties.
In Giles County 40% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
24% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 19% 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.
With 20% of homes empty at survey time, landlords and seasonal owners should shut off the main or schedule checks in winter. An unheated vacant house is also where many policies limit freeze coverage.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 10 times a year here, below the Virginia county median of 64. 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 Giles County it's 7% utility gas, 76% electric, 5% propane and 5% wood. Wood heat is more common here than in most Virginia counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Giles County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bland gets more pipe-freeze nights than Giles. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Giles | Virginia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 40% | 20% | 2 of 95 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 61% | 46% | 5 of 95 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 15% | 25% | 89 of 95 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 19% | 9.6% | 17 of 95 |
| Vacant homes | 20% | 15% | 26 of 95 |
| Wood or propane heat | 9.9% | 12% | 60 of 95 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 25/yr | 14/yr | 5 of 95 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.9/yr | 10/yr | 80 of 95 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 93/yr | 77/yr | 8 of 95 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 10/yr | 64/yr | 88 of 95 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Virginia county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Giles County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in April, May and September.
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