The Wet Patch! CARPETS of Course!

I have recently bought a Disco 1 1997. Needed a little bit of TLC but other than that prety much ok. UNTIL when hoovering I found a small wet patch.... I lifted the carpet as much as I could and found pools of water soaked into the sound proofing on both front footwells. With a little bit of detective work I found that the bond in the windscreen was bad. So much so that the previous keeper had bunged a load of bathroom mastic under the rubber surround. The car did not smell that damp stagnent smell so unlikely that this had been a problem for long! However I had the windscreen replaced as it was cracked anyway so leak cured. NOW TO MY PROBLEM!! How the hek do I get the carpets and front soundproofing out so I can dry them out fully? Having read haynes it does not explain it. It all appears to be wedged in by the heatrer distributuion unit. According to Haynes for that I have to take out the dash! NOW THAT IS TOO BIG A JOB FOR A DAMP CARPET! Is there an easier way? ADVICE AND HINTS WELCOME>
THANKS
IAN

I have had this on mine recently. I've put window sealant along the top of the windscreen and sealed the sunroofs with the same stuff - I have a/c so never open them anyway.

To dry out the soundproofing, I lifted the carpet by removing the black plastic strip at the bottom of the door opening, next to the seat. And unscrewing the plasic seat base which is screwed into the floor. It might also help to remove the plastic side panel to the sides of each footwell. I just folded the carpet back over the centre console. If that's wet, it shouldn't take too long to dry.

I then took a stanley knife and on the driver's side, cut the soundproofing from the top left nearest the centre console all the way down to the seat base. Just be careful not to cut any wires which are clipped onto the soundproofing, I cut just below them so they didn't move. Do the same on the passenger side. There are some places where it fits over a spike sticking out. I left them in the garage for a few weeks to dry out properly - you'll notice the floor gets very hot and it's noisey inside

Whilst you're down there, check out for any corrosion. Mine had a bit of surface rust in patches so I rubbed that down. I then coated the whole footwell in a thick layer of hammerite, so that if the sunroof or windscreen leaks again, it's not going to give me a hole in the floor.

In the words of Haynes, replacement is the reverse of removal. Just make sure it lines up with where you cut it and no-one will ever know