When we came to look at the house the basement was dry as a bone. It stayed dry that entire first winter until one day in spring I noticed some dampness on the walls. That dampness persisted until eventually there was just went muck in the basement for the rest of the summer. This could not stand so we had Midatlantic Waterproofing come out and put in a french drain along with two sump pumps. We had an old sump in the corner but that was upgraded and sunk deeper along with a new one in the opposite corner.
This here is the nonsense that started it all. What looked like a dirty concrete floor was actually just dirt. Way to go shithead house inspector.
This is the work that was done.
Once the house is livable and we have more money we’ll likely have the basement floor replaced with concrete just to solve any dampness once and for all. For the time being this is a great fix and the basement is no longer a stinky mess.