14 Ways To Keep Spiders Out Of Your Home

Spiders can cause natural and sometimes irrational fears, especially when they are seen in the home. These eight-legged creatures are highly effective at finding their way into your living space and spinning webs in hard-to-reach places, especially as the outdoor temperatures become less habitable. If you see them in your home or keep finding their webs on your walls, you’ll want to think of ways to get spiders out of your home.

Some highly effective ways to keep spiders out of your house include sealing any cracks in your walls and floors, installing window screens, and removing clutter from your home. Clean regularly, and pay particular attention to dusting and vacuuming up spider webs and their egg sacs. You can use spider insecticide or glue traps. Natural ways to keep spiders away include using chestnuts, mint, vinegar, or certain essential oils.

Spiders can help keep other insect populations down, but sometimes spiders become the main bug problem in your home. If you have a fear of spiders or are sick of finding them crawling on your walls, then keep reading. Below is a list of effective and easy ways to help keep spiders out of your home for good.

14 Effective Ways To Keep Spiders Out Of Your Home

1. Get Rid Of Clutter

One easy way to reduce the likelihood of spider and other insect infestations is to reduce the amount of clutter in your home. For one, clutter can attract small insects that spiders eat. 

Furthermore, clutter creates many small, dark, and undisturbed areas, which is the exact habitat spiders want to live in. The less clutter you have, the less desirable your home becomes for spiders.

2. Seal Cracks In The Walls And Floor

To prevent spiders from finding their way into your home, you need to ensure they have no entry points. To ensure there are no hidden spider entrances, you must seal all cracks and fill holes. Sealing cracks and filling holes helps keep spiders and other insects at bay.

It will also help keep your home more climate-controlled and can even help lower your electric bill. Go through each room and find vulnerable areas. Pay particular attention to areas around your window and door frames.

3. Deep Clean And Dust Regularly

If you want to make your home undesirable for spiders, then keep it clean. Dust and dirt attract bugs. In turn, this attracts spiders. Regularly dusting and vacuuming can even assist you in sucking up and removing spiders from your home.

When you keep your home clean, you inevitably sweep and vacuum away spider webs and their egg sacs. This will make these arachnids want to move on to an area where they aren’t so frequently disturbed.

4. Remove Webs When You See Them

In addition to cleaning on a scheduled basis, you should remove webs and egg sacs as soon as you notice them. Spider eggs hatch in just two weeks, which means time is of the essence. When you vacuum or dust away these webs, make sure you immediately dispose of the remnants outdoors. 

5. Sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth Outside

If you have a lot of spiders and notice even more outside your home near your entrances, then consider making a protective barrier around your home using diatomaceous earth. Diatomaceous earth might look like crumbly ash to the human eye, but it slices and rips the exoskeletons of bugs. This material can cause tiny cuts in their legs and bodies, and will slowly kill them. It also deters them from your property. Sprinkling this around the home is a great way to mitigate an outdoor spider infestation and will help prevent them from sneaking into the home.

6. Use Cedar In Spider-Prone Areas

Wood from the cedar tree is not only a great-looking and wonderfully smelling wood, but it also helps repel spiders. Cedar has a strong smell, and spiders hate it. The smell messes with their senses and makes them want to look elsewhere to build a web.

This is thanks to several oils and chemical compounds in the wood, including cedrene and cedrol. You can place cedar wood chips in spider-prone areas, or simply buy more cedar furnishings, or even use cedar oil.

7. Plant Fresh Mint Indoors

Another smell that spiders don’t like is mint. Humans might love the minty freshness this plant provides, but spiders despise it. If you want to get rid of spiders and also add another house plant by your windowsill, consider making it a mint plant.

Fresh mint is a great way to send spiders packing and moving back outside where you want them. If you can’t grow mint inside, you can also use mint oil and any product derived from mint to help repel these pests and make your home smell great at the same time.

8. Use Vinegar As A Natural Insecticide

If you want to use a spray to keep spiders away, but hate using harmful chemicals, then make a natural insecticide with vinegar. You can use vinegar in two ways to remove spiders. For one, when sprayed directly on a spider, the strong acid of vinegar destroys their exoskeleton, which eventually kills them. 

The smell of vinegar is strong, and spiders hate it, which makes it a great deterrent as well. You can also add some mint or cedar essential oil to the spray to make it more effective, and also help it smell better.

9. Place Chestnuts Where You’ve Seen Spiders

Believe it or not, chestnuts are not only great for roasting on an open flame, but they can be used to help repel spiders. While the science on this claim is inconclusive, many people say that chestnuts and chestnut oils help repel spiders.

If you want to try a natural method to get spiders out of your home, try placing chestnuts in areas where you have seen these pests.

10. Use Spider Insecticide

If you are looking for a highly effective way to kill spiders and keep them away, and don’t care if it’s natural or toxic, then try a spider insecticide. Many insecticide sprays will kill arachnids and run them out of your home quickly.

Remember, these harmful chemicals are toxic to children and pets, so consider a more natural method if you have a child or pet.

11. Try Essential Oils

Essential oils don’t just soothe your soul and make your home smell amazing. They can also help you get rid of your indoor spiders. It should come as no surprise that peppermint is one of the best oils to help deter spiders, but it’s not the only one.

All types of citrus oil, including lemon and orange, are effective at sending spiders crawling in the opposite direction. You can also try tea tree or lavender essential oils.

12. Buy Sticky Traps

Sticky traps can help you get rid of all sorts of pests, from rodents to spotted lantern flies. They can also trap spiders and the bugs they feed on. This is particularly true if you are dealing with spiders that don’t spin webs. 

Place these traps on window sills or in dark cabinets, or anywhere you’ve seen spiders or their webs.

13. Inspect Window Screens For Holes

Another way to ensure spiders never get into your home in the first place is to install and inspect your window screens. Window screens can keep the vast majority of arachnids outside.

If there are rips or holes in the screens, however, they won’t do a great job keeping bugs and other pests out of your home. Inspect your window screens and patch up any holes, rips, and vulnerabilities.

14. Get Rid Of Their Food Source

Lastly, remember that spiders won’t stay in your home if they have nothing to eat. Therefore, you must keep your home free of flies and other insects. If you notice flying insects anywhere in your home, address the problem immediately. 

The more bugs you have in your home, the more likely it is that spiders will want to move in as well.

Wrapping Up Ways To Keep Spiders Out Of The Home

Spiders are a vital part of the ecosystem, but that doesn't mean you need them spinning webs over your bed every night. If you keep finding spiders and webs in your home, there are lots of ways you can help get rid of them. 

For a natural approach, use fresh mint, essential oils, or vinegar spray to deter these pests. To keep them from entering your home, you can sprinkle diatomaceous earth outside. Ensure you seal any holes or cracks in the walls and floor, keep your home clean, and remove clutter.

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