Tiny wet spot on finished basement floor after record rainfall — reasonable to dry, fix drainage, and observe?
New homeowner here, so I may be overthinking this, but looking for practical advice.
House is new to us, built in 1967, with a poured concrete foundation, not block. We took possession about 2 weeks ago.
After the extreme rainfall in Ottawa on Canada Day — CTV reported 118 mm of rain and said cleanup was underway across the city — I noticed a very small wet area in one corner of a finished basement room.
CTV article for context:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/cleanup-underway-after-118-mm-of-rain-hits-ottawa-on-canada-day/
The wet area was maybe 5 × 5 cm. I panicked a bit and wiped it up quickly, so I didn’t get the best look at it first. It wiped up with a single paper towel, and the paper towel was not even saturated. I would estimate it was well under 1/3 of a cup of water total.
The basement has a floating floor. The moisture seemed to be around/between the floor seams, but water was not continuously coming up through the cracks. The baseboards and surrounding walls are completely dry. No visible staining. No musty smell. I checked the rest of the basement and did not find water anywhere else.
The floor in that area currently does not feel damp, squishy, swollen, or waterlogged. If I ran my hand over it now without knowing what happened, I would not suspect there had been any water there. The water has not come back.
Basement humidity is around 55%. I bought a fan and dehumidifier and have them running now. Planning to run them for 24–48 hours and monitor closely.
Exterior details: that side of the house does not currently have gutters/downspouts. There is also a flower bed with organic material/mulch up against that side of the house. I’m planning to have the grading evaluated, likely add a gutter/downspout, and possibly adjust the flower bed with better slope and stone to move water away from the foundation.
Question: does this sound like a reasonable dry it out, improve exterior drainage, and observe situation for now? Or should I be lifting the floating floor / calling a foundation contractor immediately?
We’re planning to stay in the house long-term, so I want to manage this properly, but I also don’t want to overreact to a very small amount of water after a record rainfall event.