Lewis County, West Virginia · Weston
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Weston and Jane Lew. 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 Lewis County on about 23 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 32% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Lewis County averages 6.9 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
32% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
Lewis County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.43 inches, and about 88 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
6% of occupied homes in Lewis County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the West Virginia county median of 10.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 30 times a year in Lewis County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Lewis County covers 387 square miles of central West Virginia, with about 16,740 residents and 8,219 homes. The county seat is Weston, and Jane Lew is the other large town. Half the homes here were built before 1977, half after.
47/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Lewis County ranks 32 of 55 West Virginia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Lewis County ranks highest compared with other West Virginia counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for West Virginia, and pipes still freeze. From 2015–2024 it averaged 23 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 101 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 40th of 55 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 13 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -9°F on February 20, 2015.
Most freezing nights fall from November to March, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 1 and end around Apr 25.
Rainfall is about average for West Virginia. The county gets about 49.6 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 6.9 days of an inch or more (23rd of 55). Those downpours cluster in February, June and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.43 inches on April 16, 2018. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.18 inches, ending September 11, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 88 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
Roughly 55% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Lewis near the middle of West Virginia's 55 counties.
The mix runs from 32% built before 1960 to 20% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
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.
20% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the West Virginia county median of 16.2%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
Renters occupy 28% 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
Lewis County averages 30 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. 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, Lewis County homes break down as 67% utility gas, 26% electric, 4% propane and 2% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Lewis County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Upshur and Webster get more pipe-freeze nights than Lewis. Harrison County has the oldest housing nearby, with 67% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Lewis | West Virginia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 32% | 31% | 26 of 55 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 55% | 55% | 31 of 55 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 20% | 17% | 18 of 55 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 20% | 16% | 19 of 55 |
| Vacant homes | 15% | 17% | 36 of 55 |
| Wood or propane heat | 6.2% | 10% | 40 of 55 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 23/yr | 25/yr | 40 of 55 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.9/yr | 6.8/yr | 23 of 55 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 88/yr | 89/yr | 29 of 55 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 30/yr | 27/yr | 23 of 55 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest West Virginia county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Lewis County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in February, June 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