basement water mystery

[user]

I had a mysterious wet spot in my basement, as well, a while back. A very noticable amount of water, about 6 feet from the nearest wall, but the surrounding floor/walls/ceiling were bone dry. No cracks, no seepage, and so on. It drove me nuts.

I found the source one day when I went down into the basement one morning - water had accumulated in a window well, and once it got deep enough, it jetted across the room through the edge of the window for just a moment. The path of the stream dried out within an hour, while the area with the puddle stayed wet for a day. If I hadn't gone down to the basement at exactly the right moment, I'd probably have thought it was aliens, too. ;-)

- Rich

[lsulky]

Update: after 36 hours the suspense was killing me, so I checked under the plastic sheeting I had taped down around the prime trouble spot. No moisture, not the slightest hint. Absolutely, totally dry. Not cold either, just cool to the touch like any tile floor.

Hmmmmm.......

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Thanks for the update. Any rain in the forecast?

[lsulky]

Not really. Nor has there been much at all, all summer. Last Friday we had our entire allotment for August fall in about 3 hours. But that was three days after we discovered the water. There had been "almost" no rain prior to that.

("Almost" is relative. This is Toronto, not Tucson.)