See this previous thread for various waterproofing methods. How much you do relates to the specifics of your site--water table, soil, rainfall amounts and what use you plan to make of the basement. Before you tackle anything to do with the foundation, look to appropriate grading, fully functioning eaves and downspouts. You can be sure the clay weepers are inoperative due to settling and root penetration . When I demolish homes built in the 1940s-1950s, that's what I always find.

I'm the OP. We just returned from visiting a couple more flooring stores (we've now visited four flooring stores in total). One place today was absolutely excellent as far as having a long-time salesperson/owner who really knows her products and their uses in various applications. In a situation like ours she highly recommends using luxury vinyl sheet with a glue down installation. It will adapt to minor dips in the floor, it is all vinyl so could withstand possible water incursion, it won't have potential dirt in the edges like tiles would if there is a water event in the basement, it is durable (she showed us some great examples of what can be done to it without harming it), and it is reasonably priced (not cheap but not as pricey as many other options we've seen). I liked what I saw in the Mannington line wood-replicas because it is not cheesy looking, and it has an aluminum oxide coating to prevent damage to the floor. This floor would cost about 50% of what a marmoleum floor would cost us. Hope this helps anyone else who is facing the same dilemma we are facing about flooring.

Thanks. We had some concerns as we built on a hill and have family on same block that had flooding in their below grade basement. So we took pretty much all precautions.. Turns out that a "friend" did their extension that included the below grade basement and basically no waterproofing measures were taken which is why they get water.. We have been living in house since April and have had many bad storms and still have yet to hear the sump pumps kick on.. And not one ounce of water (knock on wood) has been found in the basement.. We currently have the hvac for first floor hooked up in basement so it is a conditioned space already.. Just doesn't have its own zone.. We haven't noticed any odors coming from basement.. Going to throw a unit down there to measure humidity and also going to try the plastic taped to walls and floor test.. i guess we can go from there and see what happens..

No heat in a basement in Chicago. That's brave. Here is my issue. The heating coils/wires/mats will heat the flooring nicely but it will heat the EARTH much more. Do you have plans regarding insulation UNDERNEATH the heating elements? You will want to figure this part out or else you will be loosing 50%-80% of the heat to the earth (we call this a heat sink...because heat sinks into and never comes out). The tiny bit left will enter the tiles. Your energy bills will skyrocket if you do not insulation UNDERNEATH the heat. This insulation will add $$$$ to the installation bill. Once you have seen the cost of this as a TOTAL price, you will realize it might be faster, cheaper, easier to add baseboard heaters to the space and use the vinyl planks you want. Or cork floating flooring + cork underlayment + a baseboard heat = super warm, quiet, fast, cheap(er) project. I often see installation for the heating coils/mats/tubes come in around $15 - $25/sf. And then you have to level the space...and add the cost of the insulation UNDERNEATH the heating...and then you have to purchase the flooring...have it installed, etc. This gets very expensive very, very quickly.