I recently had a client with a home in contract that had little "bumps" under the carpet in several different spots in the living and dining room which was about 15X30 feet in size. Since the buyer was an engineer, he decided to investigate the situation himself rather than call an inspector. We all made our guess as to what the problem might be...messy drywall contractor, carpet layer who was too lazy to properly prepare the floor, etc. To our surprise when he pulled up a corner of the carpet, there was a small pile of crusty cement type material. Upon pushing a flat blade against it, it broke into powdery granules. He said, "efflorescence." And then began to check the other "bumps" and sure enough, there was more around the rest of that part of the house. The strange thing was, the cement in the garage right next to the living room and the driveway which of course was in the weather both had cement that looked perfectly fine.
OK, I haven't yet mentioned that there was mold on the baseboard in one corner of the room which backed up to a bathroom and when the carpet was lifted the carpet tack strip was wet. In addition, there was moisture under the carpet about 15 feet away. So... is it a leaky pipe in the wall behind the toilet that has been leaking for some time, an underground "stream" or water source that is coming up through the concrete slab, or a really bad concrete pour that is decomposing with a normal amount of water under a slab? No one knows because the bank would not perform a leak detection test and give the buyers an estimate of repair costs so that they would know if they wanted to proceed with the sale. As a result they backed out of the deal.
So, if you ever have occasion to feel a bump under a carpet, even if the carpet doesn't look wet on top (this one didn't) make sure your client checks it out because it could be much more serious than it first appears.
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