How To Prevent And Control Spider Infestations Inside Your Home

Most people have experienced the creepy feeling of walking into a waiting spider web and the panic that ensues with the thought that the spider is crawling somewhere on their body.

Although most spiders are harmless, and even poisonous spiders rarely capable of inflicting fatal bites, they are still pests that you don't want in your home.

In order to rid your home of spiders, you must first take the necessary steps to keep them from entering your home. You will then remove the temptation and ability for them to maintain a presence inside your home, then work on removing any existing spiders.

Keeping spiders out of your home

The goal is to prevent both spiders and the insects upon which they feed on from entering your home. This involves maintaining physical barriers at potential entry points.

Cracks and holes along door frames and windows must be sealed with silicone sealant that can withstand exposure to water. Expanding foam insulation should be applied to larger openings. Don't use too much expanding foam, because it grows in size much more than you may have anticipated.

Outdoor lighting can be minimized to avoid attracting insects that could be possible food sources for spiders, which are indifferent to lighting.

Diatomaceous earth, which consists of crushed fossilized shells and is harmless to all creatures without an exoskeleton, can kill both spiders and other insects when sprinkled around the foundation of the home. However, it must be reapplied on a consistent basis for outdoor use because it becomes ineffective upon exposure to moisture.

Making your home spider-unfriendly 

Spiders seek out lesser used areas of the home to spin their webs, so any type of clutter is a perfect setting. This might include basements and other storage areas, as well as infrequently used rooms, but spiders are most likely to inhabit an area with a steadier food supply.

You must then make your home inhospitable to both spiders and their prey by reducing clutter and keeping the house clean of foods that may attract feeder insects.

Diatomaceous earth can also be used inside the home, along baseboards, and in secluded areas, but it has the consistency of flour and tends to travel when stepped upon or blown by fans.

Removing existing spiders

The best solution for removing existing spiders is a thorough vacuuming of the entire home. After vacuuming, you must clean out the cartridge of a bagless model or toss out the used filter on a bagged vacuum, or the spiders may survive to spin again.

Severe spider infestations may require the services of a pest control company to apply spider-specific pesticides.

Spiders actually provide a service in ridding your home of more troublesome and annoying insects and are true artists in the complexity and beauty of their finely spun webs.

But like all artists that fly too close to the sun, they must ultimately meet a tragic end when they attempt to challenge the existing power structure and incite irrational fear in an unappreciative populace.

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