How To Keep Spiders Out Of Your Mooresville Home

It can be quite startling to encounter a spider in your home. Have you ever found yourself looking at a big, hairy spider and asking yourself, "How on earth did that thing get in?" Well, we're going to help you with this mystery today. We're going to talk about the pathways and conducive conditions that lead to spider sightings inside Mooresville homes, and we'll offer up some tips that will help to keep spiders out.

What You're Up Against

We can place spiders into two categories: Common spiders and occasional spiders. Common house spiders are spiders that have no trouble getting into your home and surviving inside your wall and floor voids. Occasional spiders are spiders that do not survive well in your home. If they get inside, they aren't likely to stay for long. 

Most common spiders are a low threat. Their bites (if they're able to bite humans) are mild and will only produce a small red bump. There is only one common spider, the brown recluse spider, where this is a concern.

Most occasional spiders are a medium threat. Their bites can feel like the sting of a bee. In this group, we have the black widow spider. Its bite can present a medical threat—though this is rare.

Ground Spider Entries

We mentioned the brown recluse spider and the black widow spider not only because they can present a health risk, but also because they get into Mooresville homes in a similar way. These are ground spiders that prefer to dwell near the ground and feed on larger insects and small animals, such as mice. Therefore, we consider the following tips to be of greatest importance. Here are ways you can keep ground spiders out.

• Inspect your foundation walls. If you have cracks or gaps, these will be exploited by ground spiders. Pay close attention around your utilities. You can seal some cracks with a foundation repair kit. Larger openings may need to be filled in with expansion foam or caulking material.
• Inspect your exterior doors. There are a surprising number of ways a ground spider can get past your doors. If you see gaps or holes, seal them. Replace weatherstripping and door sweeps. Repair screens. Realign your doors to create a good seal if necessary. Apply caulking around the outside edges of your door frames, if there are gaps. Fill in holes created by wood-destroying pests, like mice. This is particularly important as mice are a food source for black widows and brown recluse spiders.
• If your home has a crawl space underneath and you do not have it encapsulated, we strongly recommend you have this done. It is nearly impossible to keep ground spiders out of this space, and once they get in, they likely will find ways to get up into your home through pathways created by carpenter ants, termites, carpenter bees, rodents, wood boring beetles, or other wood-damaging pests.

Fly-Catching Spiders

While black widows may catch some flies in their webs and eat them, they don't really belong to this group. Fly catchers are spiders that create webs in high places and snag a wide variety of flying insects from gnats to moths. They're also the spiders that make webs in odd places, such as between your window screen and your exterior windows. This is because they eat the flies that try to get into your home the same way these spiders got in. Here are some tips for fly-catching spiders:

• Inspect your exterior window and door screens. Repair holes—even tiny holes. It doesn't take much of a hole to let certain spiders inside, such as the American house spider. Also, check your screen frames. If there are any gaps, you should seal them.
• Inspect your vents. If you have any unprotected vents, apply screen material to keep spiders out.
• Inspect your roof and roofline, or hire someone to do this. These spiders can get into your home through gaps in your roofline, soffits, fascia, and roof penetrations.

Conducive Conditions

If you have fewer spiders near your home, you'll have fewer spiders climbing on your exterior walls and finding ways into your home. One way to get control of spiders is to reduce attractants such as food sources, water, and harborage options.

• Keep garbage in covered containers.
• Address conditions that create standing water.
• Move objects away from your home, particularly wood piles.
• Move leaf piles, leaf litter, sticks and other organic debris away from your home.

How A Professional Can Help

When you invest in year-round pest control, a licensed pest professional can provide you with effective spider control. A professional will treat your exterior to reduce insects that are a food source for spiders, provide general pest maintenance, seal entry points, and remove spider webs—which can house egg sacs containing hundreds of eggs. All of these work together to make your home a spider-free environment.

If you'd like to learn about year-round pest control for your Mooresville home, we'd love to talk with you. Reach out to us anytime. We're here to help!