We have just moved into a 75 year old house on a stone foundation and with a dirt floor. The place stinks, mostly during the evening and night, not too bad during the day. There is a sump in one corner as during the winter there is a slight bit of seepage through the stone foundation, but not actually standing water.
Any experience with pouring a cement floor to get rid of the stink. There is no dry rot (or wet rot) and the inspector never mentioned mold. We must have looked at it on a real nice dry day, because I swear we never noticed it when we viewed the house. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Water doesn't stink, so you will have to do more than just a slab to get rid of smell. What sort of smell is it? Musty? or dead cat smell? or ????
You should discover whether all the water is seeping through the stone walls or if some is rising up from under the soil especially in springtime. A slab can be heaved right up under your feet from hydrostatic pressure there.
If the water at the walls is the only source, then you need to pour this with a channel to divert water to a sump pit and pump or daylight drain to get rid of it again.
First thing of all - deal with ground outside so surface water flows AWAY from the foundation and the downspouts are not dumping water right to the foundation walls. Get all that surface water away first.
How deep is this space? You might want to incorporate some radon ventilation as you pour this mudslab. Has the house been tested for that?
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Welcome to here! Where are you, first? Some problems are location-specific.
I think many of us would be interested in some more information and some pix, if you can. There are a variety of ways to address water coming into a basement, if that is indeed your problem. Almost all of these methods involve working from the outside, or positive side of the wall, first.
Coming up through the floor? Might be instructive to dig a pit down there to see if the water table is close to the floor level. How about the sump - can the smell be localized there? Most times, a sump won't pump completely dry - floaters tend to stay in it.
I've got a dug-out room under my old house, that I plan to put a wine cellar in, but in really rainy times, water comes up in it. Doesn't smell, tho'.
If the water problem is dealt with, the floor might be able to be covered with a heavy vapor barrier (like the 30 mil pond liner that Home Depot sells) and pea gravel
Inquiring minds want to know more!
Forrest