There are few South Portland residents who would say, "Oh, look at the cute spider in my home!" In general, spiders are not welcome guests - even though most of the spiders in Maine are harmless spiders.
Today, we're going to talk about how spiders get inside and what you can do to keep them out of your South Portland home. If you have an urgent need for spider pest control in South Portland, just hop over to our contact page for immediate assistance.
How Do Spiders Get Into Your Home? Six Typical Entry Points
There are few homes that are sealed up tight enough to keep common spiders out, so you shouldn't be surprised if you're finding them in your home. The good news is that spiders aren't all that mysterious.
There are several entry points they commonly use. Here are six of them:
- Gaps under doors. If your doors don't have door sweeps or the sweeps are damaged, spiders can slip right in.
- Gaps in the weather strip around exterior doors.
- Gaps around wire conduits, plumbing, and other foundation penetrations.
- Gaps around door and window frames. Small spiders can use small gaps that start to form around frames over time.
- Rips or holes in screens.
- Holes in rotting wood.
These are just some of the many entry points spiders can use to get into your home. A detailed inspection of your exterior is the first step in keeping spiders out.
Blocking Spider Entry Points In Homes
Now that you know how spiders get into your home, let's talk about how you can keep them out.
- Install door sweeps.
- Replace damaged weatherstripping and align double doors that still have gaps after you've replaced your weatherstripping.
- Use a caulking gun to seal gaps around foundation penetrations.
- Use your caulking gun to seal the outside of the frames.
- Repair damaged screens. There are videos online to help you figure out how to repair your screens.
- Replace rotting wood or use your caulking gun to fill in holes and seal up gaps.
If you take these steps, you'll create a physical barrier that will make it more difficult for spiders to enter your home.
Eliminating The Spiders Inside Your Home
Once you've taken the time to seal your exterior, how do you get rid of spiders in your home? Here are a few suggestions:
- Remove webs. What this does is it sends a signal to spiders that your home isn't a safe place to create their webs.
- Dust key areas, like your garage. Spiders prefer to create their webs in dirty, dusty, environments. If spiders get into your garage, it is only a matter of time before you have spiders in your house.
- Reduce fly activity. Spiders love flies. If you work to keep flies out of your home, you'll be removing an important food source. Move exterior trash receptacles away from entry doors and replace exterior entryway white lights with yellow lights. Together, these work to keep flies from hanging out where they can accidentally zip inside.
- Address pest issues in your home quickly. All spiders eat insects, centipedes, millipedes, silverfish, earwigs, and other common pests. They'll stay in a home that has food sources.
Now that you know how to get rid of spiders, it is time to discuss how professional pest control can give you even more control of spiders.
Professional Spider Control In South Portland
Year-round residential pest control offers direct and indirect control of spiders. Your technician will remove spider webs around your home. This deters spiders from making webs and it also has the potential to significantly remove spider populations.
A single web can have 300 spider eggs hidden in a little paper sack. Once the spider webs and spider sacs have been dealt with, your technician will reduce insect populations around your home which (as you know) are spider food. Not only do you get spider control, but you also get control for a long list of other common pests.
Do you live in South Portland? If so, reach out to us here at Big Blue Bug Solutions for residential pest control. Life is a whole lot better without pests.