Stem wall sweating

[PassnThru]

My detached garage has a short stem wall around the perimeter - it's about 3.5 inches wide and 6 inches deep. The land slopes down from the front of the garage toward the back so a lot of concrete is exposed in the back of the garage. A few years ago I noticed that the stem wall in the back had considerable mold growth on it. I pulled all the cabinets away and cleaned it - here is a pic after some cleaning - the mold is on the left:

It was even darker than that in some places. I concluded that it was sweating in the winter so I sealed it with the same concrete sealer that I used on the floor originally. It's a sealer that soaks into the concrete - doesn't sit on top. The theory was that it would keep it from soaking deep into the concrete. This year I did the rest of the wall all around.
Fast forward to today - I see a puddle in the floor in front of a cabinet and this is what I have now:

The entire run of stem wall here is completely soaked. There isn't much air circulation behind the wall of cabinets but I'm getting wet spots on spots that are completely open also. Like most, we've had several days lately with temps in the teens and single digits day and night and since I work out of here it's been heated every day. I do have a unvented natural gas heater but even my windows aren't sweating that much. I run a dehumidifier off and on all day.
The question is - any ideas on how to stop it from sweating? I don't really want to build it out any as it is basically flush to the wall. Would a thick foundation/concrete paint give it enough insulation? It's not a huge issue - it doesn't get this cold here regularly but I'd like to at least slow it down some.

 

[charbar]

My block stem wall used to sweat pretty bad. I don't remember what I used now but it came in 5 gallon buckets from Menards. Sealed the entire OUTSIDE of the stem wall and I haven't had a single issue since then. Been probably 9 years ago.

 

[PassnThru]

The weird part of the whole thing is that the condensation isn't even - some spots are fine while others sweat. Here is a side wall - the darkest spot on the right is where my creeper leans against the wall so lack of air circulation there - the rest is open all the time.

 

[KenC]

How about an outside pic? That does not look like sweating, but moisture from outside weeping through porous concrete.

 

[ConCretin]

I'm thinking its just condensation resulting from warm moist air contacting the cold interior surface of your stem wall.

 

[PassnThru]

Yes - It's just condensation on the inside. The outside is dry - we've had snow but no rain for the last week and the puddle just showed up today. We had enough days lately of very cold weather that the concrete is pretty much cold soaked at this point.

 

[C-S-H]

Could it be condensation dripping down from inside your leaky cavity wall?

 

[burleyfarm]

I know this is an old thread but I had the same issue. I eventually dug around the perimeter of the garage and installed 1” foam boards down to the footing and smeared it (brushed it on) with some type of cement product. Put a drip edge under the siding and over the top of the foam. Worked great.