I have an older home, >175 yrs, and this is the year I'll be taking care of some major maintenance items. One of the items I plan to take care of this year is finally pouring a concrete floor in my basement. The floor is now dirt with the furnace, hot water heater, water softener and well pressure tank mounted on individual concrete slabs or on 12X12 concrete pavers.

The basement is relatively shallow - ~6 1/2' - 7' from dirt to the bottom of the rafters and has concrete/rubble walls. I'm thinking of digging out 6-10" of dirt, putting in a few inches of gravel and then pour a 4" slab. Is this an OK plan, or are there better ways to do it?

What is the best way to ensure drainage? With the dirt floor, I have standing water in one or two places every spring and the sump pump runs fairly often. Should I run some drain tile to the sump, or will the gravel do an OK job?