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That's strange then. They did gut the house, so they could have relocated the water heater. They also use those vents for gas heating units. And I'm guessing you don't have access to the attic above the powder room due to the vaulted ceiling to check under the vents. I'll also bet that the kitchen part was not vaulted before the remodel, and they took down some walls? Your floor plan looks very similar to my grandfather's old house that was built in 65, but with a lot of walls missing. Maybe they moved the water heater and/or central heat from this corner to the other part of the house during the remodel, but after they replaced the roof and didn't plug up the vents they abandoned. My grandfather's house had the water heater and laundry room in the same spot as your current powder room.
I have pics of the original house. Very chopped up layout and typical flat, low ceilings.
The interior was completely transformed, gutted to the exterior studs.
That style vent (the bigger one) seems pretty new and looks new. There's more than one. Maybe its just an attic vent.
But you could be right... not sure where the water heater was before.
Anyway, i looked at the smaller vent this morning and I don't see any signs of damage.
And the floor has been dry during this whole dry period.
Waiting for the next set of rains but I'm really leaning that way.
Now just need to figure out if the water is coming from above or below.
The toilet is located to the left of that small window on the right side of the house.
It's a new bathroom, and the city sewer line is in the backyard.
So they had to run the drain from the toilet from that spot, under that deck (which was put down afterwards), to the sewer line.
Well this weekend I was poking around between the slats of the deck which was quite revealing!
Apparently there was a concrete walk that ran from that right corner of the house, to a concrete patio at the french doors.
In order to run the drain line, they busted out a section of that sidewalk, right where the toilet is!
So the way the property is graded, any water that flows towards the house, gets trapped in that section of missing walkway, right up against the house.
So now I need to pull up a section of deck and investigate underneath.
Either A) the water is just pooling and eventually seeping through the concrete slab...
Or B) The drain pipe coming out from under the slap isn't properly sealed to keep water out.
Either way, I think the rest of the walkway will have to be removed and maybe a drain put in to move water to the right where the driveway is.
Sounds like you may be on the right track. I do wonder how far down they dug for the new line, and did they back fill it properly? Don't want some big void filling with water under your slab. And did they go under the edge of the foundation, or cut through it? I would hope not, since it needed to be inspected.
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