I have plywood under my carpet. Recently my A/C unit had a severe leak
and destroyed my carpet padding in our guest bedroom. The carpet may
be salvageable if I can clean it. Even though the carpet is a retched
teal color. Can I put new padding under the carpet myself? Or can I
rip out all the carpet and paint the plywood? The plywood in that room
has gaps between each piece. Is there anything else I can put down to
level out the gaps? I am handy around the house. I do not want to
spend a lot of money right now to fix this problem. (I have other
projects on my list first) My house is very funky so throw any cool
crazy idea out there!

pink2dp wrote:
I have plywood under my carpet. Recently my A/C unit had a severe leak
and destroyed my carpet padding in our guest bedroom. The carpet may
be salvageable if I can clean it. Even though the carpet is a retched
teal color. Can I put new padding under the carpet myself?

Yes, you could, but I doubt it's a good idea. You need to have new or
the old carpet put in and I'd have whoever does that install the pad at
the same time. It's all part of the process of installation and I'd
have one party do it all so there is no finger pointing.


Or can I
rip out all the carpet and paint the plywood?

And then what? Just leave it as plywood? That's going to look like
hell.


The plywood in that room
has gaps between each piece. Is there anything else I can put down to
level out the gaps?

How big are the gaps? And what do you mean by level out the gaps. Do
you really mean close them (horizontal gaps) or do you mean there is a
vertical diff between sections? If they are just horiz gaps of 1/8 or
less, I don't think you need to do anything. Ask the carpet installer.


I am handy around the house. I do not want to
spend a lot of money right now to fix this problem. (I have other
projects on my list first) My house is very funky so throw any cool
crazy idea out there!

pink2dp wrote:
I have plywood under my carpet. Recently my A/C unit had a severe leak
and destroyed my carpet padding in our guest bedroom. The carpet may
be salvageable if I can clean it. Even though the carpet is a retched
teal color. Can I put new padding under the carpet myself? Or can I
rip out all the carpet and paint the plywood? The plywood in that room
has gaps between each piece. Is there anything else I can put down to
level out the gaps? I am handy around the house. I do not want to
spend a lot of money right now to fix this problem. (I have other
projects on my list first) My house is very funky so throw any cool
crazy idea out there!

I certainly wouldn't remove the carpet and paint the plywood. That'd
look and feel
awful. If you are OK with the carpet and the damaged pad isn't too
large of an area, just pull it back and cut away the bad part of the
pad and put in a new pad. Then staple it down in a few places so it
doesn't shift. Shouldn't be too difficult. Another option is to rip
out all the carpet and padding yourself, then go to your local carpet
store and see what remnents they have. Sometimes you can carpet a small
room fairly cheap if you find a remnent that you like.

Tom