What is the best way to seal an access panel to a crawl space in my linen closet.?

Question

We just moved in. My bath towels smell like my crawl space. The access panel to the crawl space (the only one) is just a piece of wood.

Answer 1

You should go buy a small roll of weatherstrip foam tape. It is a soft spongie type material that is used in applications around doors and some windows. It usually comes with one side being sticky. Apply this tape to the surface your piece of wood sits on. Put your wood onto top of the tape. To further this. You can screw the wood panel down over the tape. This will act like a fridg door and a weatherstrip. Which the tape actually is used for.

Walk around the outside of your home and see if you have small vent areas in your foundation. They look like small rectangular openings usually with a screen. If your home has these. Check to see if they are blocked or closed up so not to let air in. In cliamets that have cold winters people close up these vents during the winter. You may want to allow a couple to be open and let air exchange to help rid the smell. If the screens are damaged it would allow rodents to go under where it would be warmer so keep that in mind. If you do have these and the screen is damaged you can patch over it with new screen. Either by attatching the new to the old with wire like off a loaf of bread or even glue it to the old.
I presume the crawl space is to go under the house. Not above and into the attic space. If by chance you are calling the attice entrance the crawl space you can do the same thing. You may have to use some hook latches instead of screws to hold the door down .
The foam insullation or weatherstrip tape, screen or what ever is available at home depot or ,Lowes, or most hardware stores.

I am not so sure I would caulk it shut do to it may ending up being a hastle to gain entrance if sometime needing to gain entrance for electrical or plumbing repairs etc. This way would seal it and still give you easy access.
Hope this may be of help.

Answer 2

Its likely that an air flow situation is drawing air from the crawl space into your closet. Solve that and your towel odor problem will be solved. Sealing the opening is only one way to do it. Are there other openings in the crawl space that are permitting the air flow?

BTW, you might also consider de-humidifying the crawl space to solve this issue. If you have a musty smell coming from here, its better to address its source.

Apart from that, you could use a caulking gun ($7) and tube of painters caulk ($2) to seal the wooden access door. Thick, wide clear packing tape may be a little less permanent and still do an okay job.

Good luck.