Hi all,

We have a 300-year-old home here in CT and the basement is dirt floored (well, it also has a 1/4 layer of crushed stone over it for what it's worth). The walls are mostly quartz/granite blocks. Our house is built into the side of a sharp rise, so one full narrow end of the basement is exposed and there is a thick walk out door. The walls are over a foot thick so I'm not worried about that, but anyways let me get to the point:

We heat with wood and cook with wood so the basement is always as it was meant to be - COLD. I'd estimate it stays between 33 and 40 degrees througout the winter, but that's without ventilation. I could easily build a siphon vent system. The only problem we have is moisture. Some days, when it's been cold for a while, frost will build up on some spots of the walls. If the snow melts rapidly or it rains for a few days, the ground will over-saturate and we will get up to 1 inch of water on a low spot. Is this even possible to make into a root cellar? I'm thinking 2 or 3 sumps in the low end, filled with gravel and maybe even a pump in one of them. Then, 2 - 3 inches of gravel over the entire floor.

What do you guys think?