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A river runs through it...


Sans Souci
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Just started the demolition of my 400 y/o village home. Two bedrooms are below grade each with one below grade wall backing onto a village road. I removed the old wood floors in one bedroom as there were termites discovered during the inspection. Found out that the wood floor joists were sitting right on the dirt. I then removed the plaster wall which stood off from the stone below grade wall by about 8". Those the dirt floor and old stone wall are now exposed and ready to be renovated after the termite guy does his magic.
The problem is there is moisture leaching through the grouting of the stone and the natural rock formation that the stone walls sits on. Some of the leaching moisture is - um, liquid.
I can think of a number of ways to attack the situation giving the limitations that I have i.e. cannot dig up the exterior portion of the wall as it is a village street and cannot add any more windows as it is in the village.
I am going to put in a concrete floor and on the walls I was either going to:
A- Clean out and regrout the stone and then leave it exposed and have a fairly large dehumidifier operating on a humudistat. This way if the would be a sufficient amount of air circulation and if anything nasty started to grow on the walls, I would see it and be able to attack it before it just grew hidden behind a wall. The dehu should take care of the moisture rise and keep the bedroom (ours) somewhat comfortable. Or;
B- Clean out and regrout the stone and then build another wall about 8 to 10" away from the stone. Install a vapor barier and then placo marine. I would then install a VMC humidistat controlled system drawing any moist air up into the attic and then exhausted to the outside.
Any thoughts on pros or cons to either solution, or a recommendation for an Option C?
Thanks for any opinions.

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