[Tom McGucken]

I currently have a back deck covered in indoor/outdoor carpet that is rotting. The deck under the carpet is solid. Can I remove the carpet and cover the wood deck with plywood sheets and repaint?

 

[Daniel Holzman]

Unless you live in a part of the world where it does not rain, plywood is not a good solution since it will not allow effective drainage, and will eventually rot. Better to use the traditional solution of deck boards with space between to allow good drainage.

 

[brhokel606]

Only Marine grade plywood can take getting wet, all other plywood will fail. It is not designed to get repeatedly wet and not amount of painting will fix that. As mentioned before, the deck needs to drain, standing water on a deck will cause it to rot. I find it hard to believe that a deck that was covered in carpet for any length of time is not already rotting.