The floors and rugs generally stay cool, even on the hottest days. We don't have water problems in the basement because the foundation for the house was built into the rock ledge on top of a big hill, and we have excellent drainage around the house.
With all the rain we've had lately (nearly three times the normal amount for June), the humidity in the area is also above normal. I would love to run the downstairs dehumidifier constantly, but the bloody electricity is too damn expensive, especially since we run the air conditioner upstairs to help keep the house dry and cool.
The dog crates (wire MidWest brand) are set-up on the carpeting, and the plastic trays are kept inside the crates. Each dog has a Costco Kirkland dog bed inside their crate. We are finding that the heat from the dogs' bodies on top of the dog beds reacts to the coolness of the floors under the crates/plastic pans and soaks the beds with condensation so the beds get moldy inside and out and then have to be replaced. We tried removing the plastic pans, but the same thing happens with condensation build-up.
The only thing I can think to do at this point is to raise the crates off the floor, using bricks or cinder blocks. Anyone else have any ideas?
