What type of flooring for sweating concrete

I am working with my inlaws on a rehabb and the floors are in bad shape. The house has been added onto several times. the kitchen has a crack running thru the middle of it and there are different level floors running thru the house. the lower level floors sweat and we where trying to figure out what type of flooring to lay down. We figure on laying tile because we where told that wood or carpet would lead into trouble. Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks, Weldon

rental or rehab and sell?

Excellent site WGGJR , Thanks

assuming nothis weird about the house, it sounds like the sweating floors is due to the environemntal conditions (humidity air, cold concrete causing mositure to condense).

You might consider to make the floors all one level by building up the different levels and put in a plywood subfloor. Then you can do what ever flooring you want; however, if you do tile, you will have to put down Hardibacker (concrete board) at the plywood is not stiff enough.

My brother’s house is like that becuase the previosu owners did it . The only way I noticed it was in some rooms the electrical outlets were very close to the floor.

Its a fair amount of work, but material cost should be reasonable (just wood) and very do-able for a do-it-yourselfer with some modest level of experience.

Again it depends if this for your residence or an investment property

depending on the size of the room there is a product called dricore. You can lay this down first then put either a carpet or wood flooring on top of it.
http://www.dricore.com/en/eindex.htm

They are looking to sell.

Thanks to everyone for the info.
I have considered making the floors level, but it is a 12" drop and that would make most of the house 7’ ceilings. I did recommend raising the kitchen floor 4-6 inches due to the large crack running thru it. The dricore sounds sounds like it would do the job. This house is going to be a hard one to sell because of a weird floor plan, so we have to be creative in whatever we do.

Thanks again, Weldon

Would engineered wood made for below grade floors work as well?

Weldon…you may be facing a ground water/drainage issue, the moisture source being under the concrete floor. Long-term repair might include trenching and adding a drain system (french drain) around parts of the structure. Another possibility is the use of a negative-side waterproofing such as Miracoat which will keep the moisture out. http://www.miracote.com/index.php?href=productdetail&id=25

MG

Thanks, MG