I'm no expert, but I'd think it's worth doing, especially if you have anyone in the house with allergies or health conditions that are affected to mold. We had a huge mold problem in our basement earlier this summer (due to groundwater seeping in slowly through the walls. No leaks, no floods, just high humidity over a long period of time), and are having the entire basement redone. The mold remediation contractor found a lot of mold hidden underneath the carpet, since it stays perpetually damp, and there's plenty of "food" for the mold. I read an article that said carpet should only be installed in the basement if there's adequate "subflooring" or "underflooring" installed. Carpet laid directly onto the concrete will almost inevitably result in mold and the musty basement smell. For what it's worth, we've decided to do away with carpet entirely, and are looking into a waterproof vinyl floor.

Alisande, we have a damp basement, too, and, like you said it's a pain to empty it. We have to empty it about twice a day in the wet season. As you might imagine, we're really tired of doing this! We wish we had a floor drain to have it empty into, but we don't since it's an old house. What we're going to try to do--and maybe you can do this, too--is figure out how to get the dehumidifier drain into the laundry sink. In our case, we need to rig some sort of hose for it and figure out a way to raise the dehumidifier to the proper height. But maybe you don't have a sink in your basement... :( Even so, a dehumidifier is worth having. We got ours at Lowes for about $120 and it has been money very well spent. Our basement smells clean and nice, and the items we store down there don't get damp like they did before we were running the dehumidifier. Of course, a dehumidifier can't solve all moisture problems. It definitely sounds like your gutters/etc were causing the problems. You might want to take a look at some books on basement moisture problems. Right now, I have two books out of the library on this subject that are really helping us figure out how to make some simple fixes without calling in the professionals. Home Water and Moisture Problems: Prevention and Solutions by Gary Branson (this one is so good that I'm planning on buying it for friends and family for Christmas!) 5 Steps to a Dry Basement or Crawl Space by Ronald K. Gay I sure hope some of this info is useful. I know how annoying it is to have a wet basement. Good luck!

I have the exact same setup. My living room, built in 1880, is over a fieldstone-walled, dirt-floor basement. I had the same problem when I first bought the house. Prior owners had foam board in places, and it wasn't air sealed, but I'll tell you, mice just LOVED creating homes between the boards and the ceiling of the basement/floor of the living room. It was disgusting. And when one would die, the living room just stank! I took them all down (it was a very, very gross job), cleaned the ceiling using tsp and bleach to sterilize it, and then a friend installed Roxol batting insulation on the ceiling using insulation wires to hold it. Roxol is non-toxic and rodents hate it, which is why I chose it, and it has been fantastic. Whatever you decide, I'd pick something that repels rodents. Foam board they can just chew right through to make a home. Ugh.

Well this probably is the flooring, or what was the flooring anyhow. Likely could have been painted originally or had a bleached finish. By the turn of the century it would have been covered with linoleum. Cheapest option would get a wood flooring professional in to refinish it- old heart pine is very expensive and sought after in most regions. If you want a ‘modern’ floor you will probably need to install a new subfloor over this or remove all of this then install the new subfloor. Then any finished floor you want.