Indiana · Mixed Four-Season climate zone
Home maintenance in Indiana
Indiana looks like a state that should share a maintenance checklist with Ohio. It doesn't, and the reasons are underfoot.
The northern two-thirds of Indiana sit on thick glacial deposits, the same story as most of the Midwest. The southern third is different. Glaciers never covered it, so the limestone bedrock is close to the surface and slowly dissolving, which produces sinkholes, caves, springs, and streams that vanish into the ground and reappear somewhere else. If you live south of a line running roughly through Owen County, your yard is part of a plumbing system you can't see.
The other thing worth knowing before you read the schedule: the Indiana Department of Health estimates nearly one in three Indiana homes has radon above the EPA action level. Every county in the state falls into either the highest or the moderate radon zone. There is no low-risk county here.
About a quarter of Hoosiers get their water from a private well, and those wells aren't regulated by anyone after they're drilled.
Your Indiana schedule is built around those three facts, plus a freeze calendar that swings two weeks depending on how close you are to a city.
The calendar
Freeze timing in Indiana
Indiana's freeze dates spread about two weeks across the middle of the state, and the reason isn't a lake or latitude. It's the cities themselves.
NWS Indianapolis says it plainly in its own frost data: reporting sites in urbanized areas run a few degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside, and rural or low-lying spots freeze earlier than the published dates suggest.
Average first fall freeze (32°F), NWS Indianapolis, 1991–2020 normals:
| Location | First freeze | Last spring freeze |
|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis Airport | October 26 | April 15 |
| Bloomington | October 26 | April 15 |
| Columbus | October 25 | April 11 |
| Rushville | October 23 | April 19 |
| Shelbyville | October 22 | April 17 |
| Spencer | October 20 | April 20 |
| Terre Haute | October 19 | April 15 |
| Kokomo | October 18 | April 27 |
| Frankfort | October 17 | April 21 |
| Farmland | October 16 | April 25 |
| Martinsville | October 15 | April 24 |
| West Lafayette | October 12 | April 26 |
Read the two columns together and the gap gets bigger, not smaller. Indianapolis runs from April 15 to October 26. Kokomo, an hour north, runs April 27 to October 18, which is about three weeks less freeze-free season. If your house sits in a low spot, a river bottom, or open farmland, assume you freeze earlier than the nearest reporting station.
What that means for the house:
September — Furnace service, before the first cold snap fills every schedule in the county. First week of October — Hoses disconnected and drained, interior shutoff valves closed. Rural west-central Indiana averages a first freeze around October 12, and several stations have recorded one in mid-September. Mid-October — Last dependable window for exterior caulk and driveway crack sealer, since most sealants need surface temperatures above 50°F to cure. After leaf drop — Gutters. In karst country this matters double. See note 2. March — Walk the driveway, walks, foundation, and mortar joints for cracks that widened over winter, and seal them before another year of freeze-thaw drives water deeper.
See your Indiana schedule
Three questions — when your house was built, what kind it is, and your zip — and the schedule above stops being a sample and starts being yours.
Free · no login · about 90 seconds
What's different about Indiana
Radon, and how often to retest
Indiana has one of the more serious radon situations in the country. The Indiana Department of Health estimates nearly one in three Indiana homes tests above the EPA action level of 4 pCi/L, and every Indiana county falls into either Zone 1 or Zone 2 on the EPA map. Not one county in the state is rated low-risk.
Indiana also has no law requiring radon testing or disclosure when a home is bought or sold. So unless you ask for it, it doesn't happen.
Testing is easy and cheap. A passive kit sits in the lowest lived-in level of the house for a few days and goes to a lab. IDOH puts the average cost of a mitigation system installed in Indiana at roughly $800 to $1,200, and Indiana licenses radon contractors, so you can check credentials before hiring.
The recurring part:
Every two years, retest. A clean result isn't permanent. After any change to how air moves through the lower level — finishing a basement, replacing the furnace, sealing the foundation, adding a whole-house fan. Within 30 days of a mitigation system going in, test again to confirm it worked, then keep retesting on the two-year cycle.
Levels vary house to house on the same street, so a neighbor's clean test tells you nothing about yours.
Living on karst
The glaciers stopped short of southern Indiana, which left the limestone bedrock near the surface where water can work on it. Two well-developed karst areas run through the state: the Mitchell Plateau, stretching from Owen County south to the Ohio River in Harrison County, and a second area in southeastern Indiana. Sinkholes, caves, springs, and sinking streams are normal features of that landscape.
What matters for your house is that karst has almost no filter. On most ground, rain soaks slowly through soil and rock, and that journey cleans it. In karst, surface water can drop straight into a sinkhole or a fracture and be in the groundwater in hours, carrying whatever it picked up on the way. The Indiana Geological Survey's own guidance to residents is short and worth following: know your county's rules before installing a septic system, keep contaminated runoff away from karst features, and test your well water regularly for bacteria and nitrate.
On a schedule, if you're in karst country:
Test your well after every heavy rain event, not just annually. Cloudy or muddy water after a storm is the classic sign that surface water is reaching your well, and where the mud goes, bacteria go. Never route anything into a sinkhole. Not downspouts, not sump discharge, not yard waste, not a French drain. A sinkhole is not a drain. It's an open door to the aquifer, and in a lot of southern Indiana it's the same aquifer your neighbor drinks from. Watch for new depressions after wet seasons, especially near the house, the driveway, and the septic field. A shallow dish in the lawn that keeps getting deeper is worth a call before it's worth a claim. Before any septic work, check with your county health department. Setback and siting rules in karst counties are stricter for good reason, and Indiana leaves a lot of that judgment to local health departments.
If you're north of the karst line, the good news is you can skip most of this. That's the whole argument for a state page over a national checklist, and it's also why the schedule asks for your zip code.
Your well, north and south
Roughly a quarter of Indiana's population drinks from a private well, and those wells are effectively unregulated after installation. There's no state agency testing your water and no requirement that you do it either. If something changes in your well, you find out because you tested or because someone gets sick.
What you're testing for depends on which Indiana you live in.
In the south, on karst: bacteria is the headline. Surface water reaches groundwater fast, so coliform and E. coli are the priority, and turbidity after rain is the warning sign. Test annually at minimum and again after heavy rain, well work, or flooding.
In the north and the row-crop counties: nitrate is the one to watch. It comes from fertilizer, animal waste, and failing septic systems, and it's a genuine health risk for infants. Test annually.
Statewide: arsenic occurs naturally in Indiana groundwater in some areas. IDOH lists bacteria, nitrate, and arsenic as the basic panel worth running, and county health departments are usually the cheapest place to start.
Also once a year, look at the well itself. The cap should be sealed and intact. The casing should stand at least a foot above grade. The ground should slope away from the wellhead, not toward it. Most well contamination isn't exotic. It's surface water getting in at the top.
Bacteria, nitrate, and arsenic are all invisible and tasteless at the levels where they matter. Waiting for the water to seem wrong isn't a plan.
The Indiana maintenance year
A sample from the reviewed task library for this climate zone — your full schedule comes from the generator above.
Summer
Inspect and reseal the deck · Yearly check; reseal every 2–3 years · 20 minutes to check; a weekend to seal
Sprinkle water on the boards; it should bead up on sealed wood. If it soaks in, the deck is absorbing rain and it's time to reseal. Check your forecast and plan to work on this during a week with no rain.
Wash siding · Yearly · 2 hours
A yearly rinse removes the mildew film before it becomes a scrubbing job. It's also your best chance to spot loose or damaged siding up close.
Trim vegetation back from the house · Yearly · 1 hour
Branches that touch the house give insects a bridge and hold moisture against the siding. Aim for at least a foot of clearance all the way around. Note: Many insurers will require this to issue or renew your homeowners insurance.
All year
Change the furnace filter · Every 3 months · 10 minutes
A clogged filter forces the furnace to work harder and wear out sooner. Check it monthly and replace it when it looks gray and dusty. Hint: buy multiple filters so you have them on hand next month!
Test smoke detectors · Every 6 months · 5 minutes
Smoke detectors only work if the batteries do. It's recommended to test every detector twice a year and replace batteries as needed.
Test carbon monoxide detectors · Every 6 months · 5 minutes
Carbon monoxide is invisible and odorless, so the detector is your only warning. Test it twice a year, especially before heating season.
Fall
Disconnect and drain garden hoses · Yearly · 10 minutes
A connected hose traps water in the spigot pipe, and a hard freeze can crack that pipe inside the wall. Disconnect and drain hoses before the first hard freeze.
Timing in this zone: mid-October
Shut off and drain exterior spigots · Yearly · 15 minutes
Closing the interior shutoff and draining the line removes the freeze risk entirely. It's recommended even if you have frost-free spigots.
Timing in this zone: Late October/November
Winterize the irrigation system · Yearly · 30 minutes to book a blowout, or DIY with a compressor
Water left in buried lines freezes and splits fittings you can't see until spring. Schedule a blowout, or DIY with a compressor, before the first hard freeze.
Timing in this zone: mid-October
Winter
Watch for ice dams at the roof edge · After heavy snow + thaw cycles · 5 minutes from the driveway
A thick ridge of ice at the gutter line means snowmelt is backing up under the shingles. After heavy snow, a glance from the driveway tells you if one is forming.
Timing in this zone: after big storms
Let faucets drip during deep freezes · During deep-freeze events · 2 minutes
Moving water is much harder to freeze. On subzero nights, a thin stream from faucets on outside walls is cheap insurance against burst pipes.
Timing in this zone: rare single-digit snaps
Check that the sump discharge line isn't frozen · Monthly in winter, and during thaws · 5 minutes
If the discharge line freezes, the pump pushes against a plug of ice until it burns out or the pit overflows. Check the outlet during cold snaps and thaws.
Spring
Test the sump pump · Yearly (plus after long idle spells) · 15 minutes
Spring melt and heavy rain tend to arrive together, and the pump needs to be ready. Pour a bucket of water into the pit and confirm it kicks on and drains. While you're there, take a look in the pic and remove any debris.
Check sump pump backup battery · Yearly · 10 minutes
The storms that flood basements often knock out power too. Check the backup battery's charge and age each spring.
Timing in this zone: Do this in the late winter, early spring before heavy rains
Clean gutters and downspouts (spring pass) · Twice a year · 1–2 hours
Winter leaves gutters full of grit and seed pods. Clogged gutters send water toward the foundation, so it's worth clearing them each spring. This will help heavy spring rain water drain properly.
Indiana questions
How bad is radon in Indiana?
The Indiana Department of Health estimates nearly one in three Indiana homes has radon above the EPA action level of 4 pCi/L. Every Indiana county is classified as either Zone 1 or Zone 2 on the EPA map, meaning no county in the state is rated low-risk. Levels vary house to house, so testing your own home is the only way to know.
How much does radon mitigation cost in Indiana?
The Indiana Department of Health puts the average installed cost at roughly $800 to $1,200 for a typical system. Indiana licenses radon contractors, so you can verify credentials before hiring. Retest within 30 days of installation to confirm the system is working.
When is the first freeze in Indiana?
It spreads about two weeks across central Indiana. NWS 1991–2020 normals put Indianapolis and Bloomington at October 26, Terre Haute at October 19, Kokomo at October 18, and West Lafayette at October 12. NWS notes that urban reporting sites run warmer than surrounding countryside, so rural and low-lying areas freeze earlier than the published dates.
What should I know about sinkholes on my property in southern Indiana?
Never route downspouts, sump discharge, yard waste, or drainage into one. A sinkhole connects directly to the groundwater with almost no natural filtration, so anything that goes in reaches the aquifer fast. Watch for new or deepening depressions after wet seasons, particularly near the house, driveway, or septic field.
When should you check sump pump backup battery in Indiana?
Do this in the late winter, early spring before heavy rains. The storms that flood basements often knock out power too. Check the backup battery's charge and age each spring.
When should you reconnect hoses and open exterior spigots in Indiana?
late April. Opening the outdoor water season deliberately helps you catch winter damage early. Watch each spigot as you reconnect; a cracked pipe often shows up as a leak indoors.
When should you disconnect and drain garden hoses in Indiana?
mid-October. A connected hose traps water in the spigot pipe, and a hard freeze can crack that pipe inside the wall. Disconnect and drain hoses before the first hard freeze.
Keep the whole house on schedule
Lillypad builds your schedule free, no login. The paid plan adds Fix It Friday — one weekly email with what's worth doing this weekend. See pricing.