Hi Everyone. I was hoping someone may be able to provide some guidance on an issue I'm have with my basement. I bought a house in December of 2011 and have been trying to tackle more projects but am learning as I go because I'm green behind the ears with some of this stuff. My basement is split into two very long rooms on each side of the stairwell going down. One side is unfinished and has the mechanicals, washer, dryer, etc and the other side is what I would call semi-finished. The walls are finished with OSB Paneling mounted to furring strips that seem to be nailed directly into the concrete foundation walls. There is also some old carpeting and a drop ceiling which is nice. Originally my goal was to go down, get rid of the OSB paneling everywhere and hang sheetrock. I was also going to remove the carpet and lay down laminate wood flooring. In Connecticut during this past winter, we were hit with a blizzard which dumped roughly 36 inches of snow and was followed by very mild tempatures which caused a rapid melt. I went down to check the basement. There was barely any water which was a relief. However, when I pulled two of the OSB panels off of the wall, I noticed that at the bottom of the wall where the foundation wall meets the foundation floor I believe, there was some signs of active water but I couldn't find a leak anywhere. Outside against the foundation wall in the about the same area, I noticed that my dog has dug holes up against the foundation. Would these holes have that big of an impact? If I were to grade the outside of the house, is it as simple as adding dirt to create a slope away? The thing that annoys me is everyone seems to have a different opinion on matters like this so I can never tell what's right. One thing I read said clean and drylock the entire basement foundation wall and another said don't use drylock as that won't correct the problem. Also worth mentioning is I noticed that one of the downspouts on the corner of the house same side as the problem in the basement roughly is buried directly into the ground....Is this a standard practice? I'm on a low budget and can't really afford to do anything major.

Hello, I'm a first time home owner 2nd week in my house. I have been cleaning up some nasty wiring under my house and to work a little more comfortable I have laid out some of my card board moving boxes on the floor. The floor is mostly sand and very dry. Before moving in I have seen the crawl space several times no signs of mold no wet spots anywhere. Would it be a bad Idea to leave the card board down for a long period of time (few months)? Am I inviting bugs or mold. Also should I put anything on the floor to protect it from mold or any other issues? I guess I should add my furnace/AC is located down there. Thanks, Mike I just joined this forum its been a great help so far.