OT: dry a basement on the cheap???

Brainstorming again...... Got a cellar under the barn that seeps ground water. Humidity hangs between 95 and 100% I know the storybook way to dry it up, but don't want to spend so much money/effort. It has a drain. Think if I put down plastic then smooth gravel over top for a floor that it would dry up the air enough to store veggies and keep stuff from rusting? It stays about 50 degrees which is a good temp for beer and schnaps storage :roll:

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Dave

4" Crushed Stone,heavy Poly Vapor Barrier and then 2" of Stone Dust and a decent floor will develope,not perfect but passable. I don't ever remember our Root Cellar haveing a dry floor. Mom would keep it covered by old barn boards so she could walk on it and stay out of the slimey stuff.She stored a lot of stuff down in that cellar.

(quoted from post at 08:22:57 07/25/09) Mom would keep it covered by old barn boards so she could walk on it and stay out of the slimey stuff.She stored a lot of stuff down in that cellar.

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So, what's my problem? I hung a bag of potatoes in there and they were rotted in 2 weeks or less. Put a bunch of carrots in there in a box lined with straw and the same result. Forget the plastic and just more ventilation?

A layer of pallets?

A sump pump and a de-humidifyer work for me.

Dave2, ScottSF has your solution but didn't elaborate. To make that cellar dry enough for storage you need to get most of the water out of it. It's a hard day's work and about 200 USD.

The floor has to be relatively level. Dig a trench all the way around the inside perimeter about ten inches deep and ten inches wide. You can put in corrugated drain tile or just clean gravel for drainage. If it's muddy most of the year in there, dig another trench from corner to corner and fill with pipe and/or gravel.

n a corner or at the edge where you have an outside wall, dig a hole deep enough to put a sump pump basin in and set the basin deep enough so the drain tile/french drain runs the water into it. Run the output pipe from the sump pump out the exterior wall and away from the foundation.

I don't know.My suspician is :{{Heat}}: I don't recall any problems with our Root Cellar except in the summer time and not much was stored in it at that time. We always stored Milk etc in the summer time in the Spring House down near the base of one of the hills by the creek. We lived in Taylor County Ky. out in the hills and things were done then much the same as my Anscestors did who came to Ky from Pendleton County W.Va. around 1805.Our Meat was stored in the Smoke House and Milk etc was stored in warm months in the Spring House. In the cold months the Root Cellar was used as I described. You have to find a solution to the excess water problem. Apparently the Drain is not enough which means maybe a lined Pit 24"X 24" to create a Sump with solid bottom in it and a small Sump Pump in the bottom of the pit to remove the water as it drains into the sump.What I described will drain well but that much water must be got rid of. Do you have a spring in the basement? I saw Pictures of your barns etc elsewhere on YT and they appear to have a long history with your property,what was the old timers solution or didn't they have one? A Picture of our part of Kentucky is attached.

A porous bag filled with calcium chloride hung up over a bucket will help.

Backhoe a outside perimeter drain below the footing depth. On the side(s) where the water table is high. Backfill some or all of it to grade level with gravel.
Attempting to drain water from inside the basement is like trying to bail out the Titanic. The only way to get rid of a problem is to get rid of it. Dealing with a problem doesn't work.

BuickandDeere is absolutely correct.

My brother in law jacked his house up 2 feet an raised the basement floor the same amount.It worked.When I dowsed his well I got stong indications all over the proposed house site.I told him so but he didnt listen.The well I dowsed came in excellent.