Your home lures spiders in, and if you want to know how to get rid of spiders in the house without having to run around screaming with a shoe in your hand, you’ve come to the right place.
We’re going to help you put an end to your complaints of spiders running rampant in your home.
And you’ll be able to start taking corrective steps today to keep spiders out of your house tomorrow.
Table of Contents
3 Quick and Easy Steps to Get Rid of Spiders in Your Home
1. Keep Spiders out of Your Home
The best spider control is keeping the spiders from easily entering your home. A few home improvement methods will go a long way in ensuring that your home isn’t just free of spiders, but that it’s also free of rodents and other insects.
Let’s start with the most obvious problem.
Seal Your Home
A properly-sealed home is a home that is not as attractive to spiders. You’ll want to examine these key areas first:
- Doors
- Windows
- Foundation
You’ll be looking for any cracks or gaps you may find. The good news is that large gaps around the windows can be filled with caulk, while doors can have door sweeps added to the bottom or additional trim to seal up the holes.
Vents and chimneys have a fine mesh screen installed that will help keep bugs out of your home.
The good news is that these small corrective measures will also keep drafts from entering the home and will help you save money on your electric bills every month. It’s a win-win situation, and it’s something you’ve likely been putting off for far too long.
Shut Your Outside Lights Off
Home interiors get overrun with spiders because they’re attracted to your home. If you’ve turned on your outside light and saw insects flying around, this is because they’re attracted to the light.
Spiders eat insects, so they’ll naturally migrate to the light, too.
And since the light is next to your door, they’ll just make their way inside and take a seat on your living room sofa. Light attracts bugs, so shut off your light when it’s not needed, or switch to a dim, yellow light that’s less appealing to bugs and spiders.
Regular bulbs will attract insects and spiders.
Remove Vegetation Around Your House
Dead spiders either get killed, die naturally, or starve. If you eliminate the spider’s hiding spots, spiders will move away from the home because they won’t find a good spot to wait and hunt down food.
Spiders like dark, undisturbed places, too.
Vegetation around your house will attract a plethora of insects, including spiders. If you want to reduce the abundance of insects around the home, make sure you remove or trim:
- Plants
- Shrubs
- Trees
- Ivy
Any vegetation that can be trimmed or removed will be one less place for the spider to hide. This vegetation provides great cover for spiders to attract their food source and warmth, too. If you remove vegetation, firewood stacks, mulch and leaves, this will be a major step in getting rid of spiders in the house.
Clean Often and Well
Your home may also provide the darkest crevices that spiders love, so be sure to clean up often. You’ll want to follow this checklist:
- Throw out leftover food.
- Clean up food crumbs.
- Wipe down the countertops.
- Vacuum and mop the floor.
- Remove any clutter possible.
- Store items in airtight containers.
- Clean your dishes promptly.
If you follow just these cleaning methods, you’ll fast-track your progress of a spider-free home.
2. Verified Pest Control Methods
If you have a spider infestation and want to know how to get rid of spiders in the house, you’re in luck. We’ll start with the fastest and easiest method of spider removal we know.
Vacuum Spiders and Spider Webs
Spiders weave their webs and take over the corners of a house overnight. These web-building spiders often mean no harm, so if you can, place them back outside. But if you have an infestation, you probably just want to get rid of these pests.
If you patch up cracks and holes as mentioned earlier, this will help, but you’ll also want to bring out some real power.
Your vacuum. Use your vacuums hose attachment to clean webs and any potential eggs that may be around. If you don’t have a vacuum, a broom will do the trick.
Apply a Residual Insecticide
You can lay a few sticky traps at this point, but this will only kill the spiders you have in your home currently, and any spiderlings may still hatch and take control of your home. Household insecticides can help.
You’ll want to use these poisons in:
- Corners
- Cracks
- Anywhere spiders roam
Be careful when making your choice for an insecticide, as they can harm humans, kids and animals. Also keep in mind that spiders need to walk through a residual insecticide, so they may avoid it if it doesn’t have a spider-luring aroma – most do.
Call a Professional Exterminator
Massive infestations call for a professional to help. If you have a ton of spiders or money to spend, call in a professional exterminator to do the job. These professionals will know how to handle your spiders and will offer a pesticide that works well in the worst case scenario.
3. Natural Remedies
If you’re a nature lover or don’t like the idea of using an insecticide or pesticide, you can choose a natural remedy to get rid of spiders. I shouldn’t call these a remedy as much as they are a frm of natural pest control.
But in either case, some of these work as spider repellents, while others work to kill the spider.
Horse Chestnuts
Horse chestnuts are a natural spider repellent, and all you need to do is spread them around the home. No one knows why this method works, but a lot of people swear by it, so it’s worth a try if you have a true infestation.
You’ll want to just place these nuts in:
- Nooks
- Corners
- Places where you see spiders
You may also want to try breaking the chestnuts in half before placing them.
Peppermint Oil Spray
If you have essential oils in your cabinet, you can use peppermint to make a spray. Simply add 20 drops of peppermint essential oil into a water bottle, and spray cracks and corners around your home.
Insects hate this spray, so they’ll stay far away from your home.
Just keep in mind that you’ll need to reapply your spray often to keep the scent fresh and the spiders out.
Diatomaceous Earth
Found online and in many garden centers, diatomaceous earth, or DE, is small and jagged while being harmless to humans and animals. The idea is to sprinkle DE around the home, leaving a light dusting everywhere.
When the spiders go through the dust, it will cut their exterior and cause fluids to leak out.
Eventually, the spider will dry and die. This works on most insects and bugs, and it’s a great option for killing ants, too.
Vinegar
Spiders can be sprayed with a mixture of water and vinegar in equal parts. You’ll want to simply spray the spiders with this mixture, and the acidity will kill the spiders, repel future spiders or cause current spiders to flee, depending on the species.
Some people say to place this mixture on a dish and leave it around the home.
It doesn’t smell great, so I opt to simply spray the spiders.
If you incorporate all three of these steps, I am confident that you’ll be able to greatly reduce your spider infestation and put a halt to any potential infestations in the future.
But remember, spiders are very beneficial and are the best insects to have around. Spiders eat other pests, and while they may seem frightening, they are often timid and don’t want to attack a human unless provoked.