The house we just bought has a shop in the basement (actually,
in the crawl space — ceilings are only 6’8″ at highest point), but
all the cabinets and walls had mold all over them from the
damp conditions (we are in NC). I just removed all the old
cabinets and am planning on building a wood shop from scratch,
but I want to avoid future mold problems. The key problems:

1. The walls have
cinder block footings with insulated (fiberglass) stick framing
above, but the the cinder blocks are wider than the 2×4 framing
above, so the holes in the cinder blocks allow free access from
the ground underneath (I assume). Should I insulate the insides
of the cinder blocks? Stuff them with fiberglass insulation?

2. There are 4×4 posts that are holding up the screened-in porch
above that go right into the ground to the footing under the
grade level. A couple of these posts are showing some signs
of rot from being in contact with damp ground. What can I do
about this?

3. I want to seal the poured concrete floor and the parts of the walls
that are cinder block. I’ve seen something called “Dry-Lok” at
the local hardware stores — is that a good product? Any other
suggestions for the painting/preparing the surfaces/sealing
cracks?

4. All the doors are odd sizes (entry door is 2’6″x5′, two big
“barn” doors that are 4’x6’8″ swing to meet in the middle, and
one more door to the rest of the crawl space under the house
also about 2’6″x5′) and don’t seal well. Any suggestions for
making ugly but functional doors (or a book on this topic)?

I’ll probably end up putting a dehumidifier and/or a air
conditioner in there too.

A lot of questions. Thank you for any help in advance.

John