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We're baffled.
Situation: Old doublewide on full very damp cellar.
Tore belly wrap and insulation out to check floors. Totally dry (from above and below) and only a small section of minor old swelling next to marriage joint which we've since sealed up during floor leveling.
A month goes by and yesterday ...after yet another 2 days of rain.....wet spots on the floor of one room (room is over wettest part of cellar)
OK...assume it has migrated up through the floor and go down to staple plastic up in place of the old belly wrap.
Look up and the underside of the floor looks pristine!!
Windows were open a bit but the worst spots were 12 feet across the room so doubt if it 'rained in'.
Is it at all possible that the top of steel beams could be damp enough to be transmitting any moisture?
Obviously we can't 'see' the underside of the floor where it sits on the beams.
It's all I can even think of.
Any other thoughts?
By the way....this has been like this with a wet basement for many many years and when we tore the carpets out a month ago there were no wet spots present and we've dried the basement out considerably since then.
Do you have any water lines running through there (i.e. between the ceiling of the basement and the floor?) I had the same problem after moving into an old concrete block building with a terrazzo floor when a pool of water intermittently appeared on the floor. Thought it was from leaking roof, etc. but finally dug up the floor in that spot and discovered that some brain surgeon had obviously years ago had the same problem, had dug into the floor and instead of fixing the problem properly had cut the copper pipe, crimped it up and filled the end with mortar, then shoved concrete back in the hole. No cap, no nothing and of course it deteriorated over time and once we turned the hot water back on into the bathroom (which had been converted to a storage area) the water just bubbled up. Properly capped it, re-routed the hot water line via PVC piping on the outside of the building to that bathroom and all was well. Cheers!
The first thing I would do is look UP! Is the moisture coming from a roof leak?
2nd place I would look is for a plumbing leak. Is there any plumbing close by?
It is not likely it is coming from below. If it was wet enough under the house for moisture to get to the finished side of the floor, it would be very noticeable from the underside. If not WET, then at least it would be stained and show signs of past moisture.
Since it seems to happen after a rain, that is probably the cause. If is was plumbing, it would be wet all the time, UNLESS something only leaked when it was ON (like a stem on a faucet), or a drain pipe under a sink. But if it was a plumbing leak, I would think that the spot would be wet from the source all the way to the wet spot on the floor.
No plumbing.....no pets......no spots at all on the ceiling.
There are spots, plural, here and there all over the room.
Most and biggest appear to be in a somewhat line which corresponds with a beam but some seem random.
Condensation or - ready for this? Someone might have dropped some "damp rid" on the floor. As an absorbent salt, you might not notice any moisture on a dry day, but when the humidity rises, it does its job absorbing moisture from the air.
Dry a spot with a hair dryer, then tape a layer of plastic wrap over it. If the moisture recurs above the wrap, you have condensation. If not, chances are you have a hygroscopic substance on the floor.
The floor is carpet? Vinyl? Wood?
When you say "beam", do you mean a FLOOR beam, or a CEILING beam. Sorry, you said double wide, probably no attic or ceiling beam. But then, where is a beam under a double wide? Usually they are two metal chassis structures bolted together. Most of the time, they only have floor joists running from side to side with plywood flooring.
Did you actually feel the ceiling? You could have a leak, and not see a stain.
I find it very hard to see how moisture could get on the finished side of the floor without any sign of moisture under the house in that area. A moisture meter would really help here. You may want to see if you borrow one, or buy an inexpensive one.
Is the leak in line with the main seam between the two units? If so, I am still going with a roof leak. Can you get up on the roof and look around for loose seams or roofing material? What kind of roof is on the house? Flat metal, or pitched with asphalt shingles.
Ah...I forgot to mention one important thing .
This is one of those with a slanted wall bewteen the kitchen and LR so the marriage joint shows all down through the LR(where the wet spots are)
It's not next to or hidden by a wall.
There are steel beams and wood floor joists.
Went and tried to look better today and a couple of those spots looked even wetter and had even left a fan running .Couldn't see much in the cellar.
It's got to be condensation on the metal beam which was probably not a problem when the belly wrap was on all these years.
It's the only thing that makes sense other than ghosts with bladder problems.
Thanks for trying to help figure it out and I'm still open to suggestions.
Putting plastic up can't be done easily since the original owners went to overkill with 400,000 more posts and beams.
The belly wrap is not really a vapor barrier per se. It designed to keep the insulation in place when these things are traveling down the highway.
IF the moisture was "wicking" up from under the house, then the underside of the floor would show signs of moisture, and the steel beam would be dripping wet.
I think you said you went under there and everything was dry on the underside of the floor (not the ground). Is that correct? Everything on the underside of the floor was dry? It doesn't make sense that moisture could make it's way from underneath without getting the underneath wet.
Morning
The carpet is gone
I laid covered the cellar floor with plastic after taking off the wrap so as to contain the dampness and dry out all the dripping .For 2 weeks it has been dry.
You're right that the wrap isn't moisture proof.Enough of the insulation was /had been wet which is why it went.....I was afraid of mold.
So yeah....seems like the floors would have been affected before
Having the cellar windows open may have allowed just enough moisture (high humidity days) to be attracted to that steel and they dried where visible but not at the top where they touch the floor (and we can't see)
Floor is that super special mobile home decking....dense compressed chip board.
I shouldn't knock it.It's held up well.
As you can see...still guessing.
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