In contrast to the triple-point condition of bulk material, condensed matter in porous media can coexist stably as liquid, solid, and vapor over a wide temperature range. The necessary conditions are found by a thermodynamic approach starting with the potential which reflects the grand canonical distribution and is characterized by heat and matter exchange. The other parameters are volume and surface. Therefore, it is designated the free mechanical potential. General expressions for mechanical stability are given. On condensation and melting the nonwetting phases vanish. These are thermodynamically stable phase transitions. For the opposing effects evaporation and fusion, an energy barrier must be transgressed either by nucleation or by intrusion as discussed here. These are metastable states. Phase transitions are the conditions which limit the triple-phase region. Within this region high negative pressures are generated in the unfrozen liquid independent of the pore size where it exists. The findings are applied to water in the disperse matrix of hardened cement paste. They are the basis for "micro ice lens pumping". Copyright 2001 Academic Press.