Need help diagnosing a rainwater leak!


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Old 04-29-20, 05:45 AM
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Need help diagnosing a rainwater leak!

Our home is about 7 years old (We've lived in it the entire time). We live in Oklahoma (no basement, clay soils). About a month ago during a heavy rain, for the first time we noticed the carpet was wet where it meets an interior wall (About 10-12 feet from an exterior wall where standing water has historically pooled a couple times a year after heavy rains).

-Last week I installed a french drain near the exterior wall which I hoped would fix the issue but didn't seem to
-I had a roofer out who confirmed my roof looks good
-I went into the attic during rain and didn't see or hear any sign of a leak
-No sign of water damage to ceiling or walls in the room with the leak
-This leads me to believe the water was coming through a crack in our slab

Last night we had a 15 minute long moderate rain, and that was enough to cause a small amount of water to come in at the same spot (during the rain). This has me questioning if it's really coming through the concrete slab because it didn't seem like the soil had time to get saturated before there was a little water leaking in.

Any and all help or suggestions are much appreciated, as I'm at a loss.

Lastly, if I was to get professional help for this issue, who would I even call? Who could help diagnose the issue... A home inspector, a plumber??





 
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Old 04-29-20, 06:00 AM
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What is on the roof directly above the leak? Chimney? Vent pipe? Valley?
 
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Old 04-29-20, 06:30 AM
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Nothing is directly above it (the roof is just sloping towards the exterior edge of the house), but there is a vent pipe within about ~8 feet from a point directly above the leak. Roofer said it looked fine at the exterior, but I suppose there could be a leak in the PVC inside the home somewhere? He said he doesn't see that very often when I asked him about it.

Also as a note, we have an extremely steep pitch on our roof (13/12). Not sure if that's relevant or not.
 
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Old 04-29-20, 06:35 AM
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Thats so steep that its hard telling if the roofer actually got up there to look or not. But I would start by looking at the rubber collar on that vent flashing. They eventually deteriorate and that would be a direct path for water down the wall. Water follows the pipe until it reaches the floor or drips off a branch.
 
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Old 04-29-20, 06:44 AM
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Thanks, he did get on the roof but due to the pitch he stayed on one of the peaks nearby and looked at the vent pipe with binoculars. So it's possible there could be an issue. I did examine the vent from inside the attic and it wasn't leaking directly into the attic.

Is it common for these types of leaks to not show any sign of water damage to the drywall or ceiling? That's the confusing part for me, if it is indeed coming through the roof and not the foundation. That being said, it is a relatively small amount of water on the floor (half of a towel can easily soak it up when I pull back the carpet)
 
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Old 04-29-20, 07:02 AM
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A vent pipe can be a direct path that can skip the ceiling. That's why it's the primary suspect here. About all I can say is that the next time its pouring hard, get in the attic while its raining. Take the brightest light you've got.If there are no leaks, then groundwater might be the cause. We dont have many houses on slabs here in Nebraska and we dont have much clay. But I know water can travel on top of clay since it's harder for water to penetrate it.
 
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Old 04-29-20, 07:39 AM
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About 10-12 feet from an exterior wall
Check the stack first, if nothing, you might have to peel the carpet away from the wall to see what is wet.

What about opposite side of the wall where internal wet spot is found, anything there? Anywhere else along interior wall?
 
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Old 04-29-20, 10:56 AM
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I haven't noticed anywhere else wet in the room. Opposite the wet spot (about 15' away) is the back patio off of our bedroom. The wet spot seems to be a relative low spot in the room. We've peeled the carpet away and the water seems to be coming from where the concrete floor meets the drywall/behind the drywall. So seems to be coming from behind the wall. To diagnose further I'd probably have to cut a hole in the drywall, which might be my next step after checking out the vent stack again.

Also, we dried it out last night with a towel after the rain, and this morning noticed there was a bit of additional water there (so 12-15 hours after the last rain). I'm not sure if a leaking vent stack would still be dripping water into the house that long after a rain.
 
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Old 04-29-20, 12:10 PM
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we noticed the carpet was wet where it meets an interior wall
I was asking if there was water in adjacent room, same wall, it's interior wall?

If you notice wetness on one side, I would think it would be other also?
 
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Old 04-29-20, 01:22 PM
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Ahh, gotcha. Difficult to explain, but the other side of that wall is effectively a perpendicular wall with one side being a hallway and the other side being our master bath. So it sort of forms a T, with the water leak being on the top of the letter "T", master bath on one side and hallway on the other side. No water in the master bath or hallway, but the hallway has wood floors so it's possible there is some water underneath.


My next idea is to wait until the yard is bone dry (hopefully this weekend) and then turn the hose on to saturate the yard next to the house for an hour or so and see if anything leaks in. This could help diagnose if it's coming through the slab or not.
 
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Old 05-04-20, 09:26 AM
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Thanks for the help all! It looks like it's definitely a leak around the vent cap. This morning I shot some water on/around the area with my hose and checked inside an hour later - sure enough there was some moisture leaking in.
 
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Old 05-04-20, 09:41 AM
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Thanks for posting back. Not surprising. The rubber seal to the pipe often deteriorates as it gets old, and water follows the pipe straight down.
 
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