storing things in the basement...

[3lilmonsters]

I have never had a basement before and so I'm sure this is a stupid question, but if I store things in the basement but first put them in either a ziploc style plastic bag, or with clothes just tightly tied trashbags, will that prevent them from molding? We have a dirt floor basement and water runs in from under the wall sometimes when it is raining. I was going to put down some wood pallets and store stuff on top of those. I'm also wondering if I could help the moisture problem by setting a dehumidifier on a couple of pallets and running it down there.

[yeahwhat]

I don't think a dirt floor basement with occasional water infiltration sounds like a good place to store anything you're concerned about being contaminated by mold or insects. If you're going to store stuff down there, make sure it's well sealed.

[lifeguard]

We have an old basement that is half dirt. What we did was put up shelves but put them on bricks so the wooden legs would not rot from sitting in any water (we tend to often have a small amount of water). Everything we put into the basement is in "rubbermaid" style bins with tight sealing lids. Ziploc bags might work but I wouldn't trust just garbage bags - you won't get a good seal.

So far I haven't had any problems with mustiness or moldiness in anything (& we do keep some clothing down there). I have also thrown dryer sheets into the bins just in case to help with any mustiness - but it really hasn't been necessary.

If you get a lot of water down there a humidifier will be somewhat hopeless as it will struggle to keep up.

[jeninejessica]

We have a 'finished' basement (we've torn down the walls in prep to refinish, but the floor is concrete with carpet overtop of it) and even still, I keep all of our belongings in rubbermaid totes down there. Anything that's in cardboard boxes (extra towels, tupperware, etc) we make sure is on top of those rubber totes.
I definately wouldn't use the garbage bags, and anything I did put down there, I would make sure it's not directly on the floor- like someone mentioned, put up shelves, or even just a makeshift shelf with bricks and a piece of plywood on top.

[KariM]

We have an old basement (house was built in the 1880s) and it is half dirt and half concrete.

We store lots of things down there and have never had a mold or mildew issue. Some of the items (like tools, household items, etc) are just out and other things (like old toys) are in rubbermaid tubs.

We do have our furnace down there and have a vent leading into the basement off of one of the heating ducts. We also run our central A/C in the summer. For the past 3 years or so we've also run a dehumidifier.

I think your storage solutions will probably depend upon your local climate and conditions in the basement.