Entire Basement Carpet Damp !

Folks,

We have a fairly new townhouse built by VM in Sep 2005. We noticed today that the Entire Basement CARPET is DAMP. There were few papers lying on the carpet which are damp too.

We checked the utility closet and there are no leakage. We have not turned our A/C on as yet.

Any Ideas on whats going on here. Its our First house and we are clueless.

Please help.. We will call VM tomorrow morning first thing.

Thanks

 

QUICK put a fan on high down there and get a dehumidifier in there ASSP

 

Turn on the AC too!

 

None of your walls/ceiling are damp?

Is your washer/dryer on this level and maybe it overflowed or one of the pipes is loose on it?

Also, since you said you live in a TH, have you checked with your neighbor(s) to see if they are home and if by chance they had a pipe burst/flood?

Sounds odd and very concerning. Best of luck figuring it out and like someone else already mentioned, be sure to get a fan going asap.

 

yea, I was going with the burst pipe possibility, but this would be more obvious I would think. And when you say "damp" can you elaborate? Can you put a paper towel on the carpet and really soak up some water?

Do you have a sump pump? Could it back-up? I do not think you have one, but just another idea. Do you have any way that water could get in through a sliding glass door in the back?

And yea, check with the neighbors, I have see this before where a pipe burst and flooded the neighbors too.

 

None of the walls/ ceilings are damp. There are no visible leaks. We don't have washer/ dryer in that level. We did check with our neighbors....they don't have any issues. We don't even have pump sump. We had couple of fans running through out the night and when the VM guys came to c it today it is not as damp as it was yesterday. They are working on it. They are gonna come back again with more resources to find the leak.

Thanks everyone for ur responses...Hopefully it not something big and serious.

 

Don't have a sump pump? I thought those were required?

 

Kaosdad: The basements in the townhomes are above ground level (at least in SW they are), so no sump pump necessary.

julie_gw: any possibility of a water leak coming through the sliding glass door (was a sprinkler left running outside?) or through the fireplace or something like that?

 

Not sure of the TH in question but there are plenty of TH's that are partially below ground. The one we use to live in had a sump pump for this reason.

 

Yup yup, I was just guessing that since she doesn't have a sump pump, and she has a VM TH built in 2005, it is likely in SW, where they are all above ground.

 

I don't remember seeing any below-ground TH units in Broadlands North... I used to live in one of the Miller and Smith Models - also above ground.

 

The THs on Bankbarn had a few rows with the basements partially underground in the back.

And due to slope of the hill they were built on, our sump pump went off often when it rained.

 

Yes we live in SW and our TH are built abt 8 - 10 inches above the ground. I guess thats why we don't have sump pump.

We still haven't figured out where the water came from.

 

Could it be condensation from humid air hitting a cold floor (concrete under the carpet) ?

 

It's not THAT humid here yet.

 

Could have set a humidifier for too high a humidity ... it was just a thought.

 

Don't know if this is applicable but ... does the townhouse section you live in have inground sprinklers for the common areas? My parents had the same problem in their house in FLA where water collected under their floors and they could not determine the reason. Turns out, they live by a golf course that had a sprinkler system and the system had a flaw or some sort of problem which caused water to collect under my parent's home. The mold contamination due to the water infiltration was devastating. You should check for mold ASAP as it can become a health hazard. Good luck to you.

 

you should insist on that the carpet be pulled up and trace the path of the water. Ususally water leaves a trail. I have seen many leaks between the walls from defective or missing flashing. You will not see the water becuase it is a trickle behind the wall. Anyway, once you pull up the carpet, you will probably be able to trace to a general location or source. Even if the water has dried up, it will leave a stain on the concrete slab to trace. Hope that helps. I also recommend professional carpet cleaning after they restrech and tack the carpet. Or, just have them replace the carpet $$

 

I had this same issue in my townhouse in 2003.

Check this out: if your furnace is in your basement, there should be a condensation pipe leading from it to a hole in the floor, which connects to the main sewer line that runs outside.

Have someone stand next to that hole, and go and turn on all the faucets in the house. Water may start backing up through that hole-hence just the wet flooring.

What happened to me (I live in a 1-car garage townhome) was that VM measured the lot wrong, and drove wooden stakes through the sewer line before the foundation was poured. It went unnoticed until the house was built and we started using the plumbing. With wooden stakes through the lines, it wasn't long before I had raw sewage backing up into the house-through the hole where the condensation line is for the furnace. VM had to come out, drill the foundation out from under the house and cut out the stakes. In fact, VM had to come out twice-they missed a second stake further down the sewer line-so I had sewage in the house twice, the foundation drilled out twice, and the carpets replaced twice.

I hope this is not the case for you-but your phenomenon sounds really similar. The whole situation for me was an absolute nightmare (and so nasty-ugh) to the point where I was sitting in the sales office, crying: I hated my new house. As a sidebar, I will not buy another VM home.

Good luck in solving your mystery-
Penny

 

As nightmares go, Penny, that has to be one of the worst. You poor thing.