Why Spiders Build Up in Kingsbury Homes
Mature trees, hedges and flower beds support a great deal of insect life, and homes near Fryent Country Park, Roe Green Park or the Welsh Harp have open green space and water close by as well. Spiders are there because the food is. Most stay outside, but the parts of an interwar house that sit between garden and home, such as the garage, conservatory and back porch, collect both the insects and the spiders that eat them. What attracts spiders into a property explains the pull.
Attached and side garages
A garage that holds bikes, tools, paint tins and boxes rather than a car stays cool and quiet, and the gap under an up-and-over door lets insects and spiders walk straight in. Webs gather along the roof timbers and behind stored things, and where the garage has a door into the house, spiders find their way into the kitchen or utility room too.
Conservatories, sheds and bay windows
Conservatories draw insects to the glass and the lights at night, and spiders spin in the roof corners to catch them. Garden sheds are much the same. At the front of the house, bay window frames have plenty of small ledges and corners where webs are left alone.
False widows round window frames
The noble false widow is a dark brown, glossy spider with a rounded body, often found in gaps around window frames, under sills and in sheds. Bites are uncommon and are usually compared to a bee or wasp sting. If a bite becomes very swollen or looks infected, speak to a pharmacist or GP, and call 999 for signs of a severe allergic reaction. Are there dangerous spiders in Brent homes? has more.
Autumn House Spiders Are Not an Infestation
From late summer into autumn, male house spiders leave their webs in garages, sheds and wall gaps to look for a mate. They are large, quick and easy to spot, often in the bath or running across the floor at night. A handful each autumn is normal in a house with a garden. A real build-up looks different: webs, egg sacs and spiders returning to the same room or outbuilding week after week, which why spiders keep appearing in the same rooms looks at.
What Spider Treatment Can and Cannot Do
Treatment is aimed at the rooms and outbuildings where spiders have built up, and it can bring those numbers down. It cannot stop spiders walking in from a garden full of insects, and it does not change the insect supply that drew them. If the real cause is another pest, such as carpet beetles in loft storage or carpet moths in a spare room, that needs sorting too. Can pest control reduce spider problems? and whether lots of spiders mean another pest go into this.
Getting ready and afterwards
- Tell us which rooms and outbuildings are affected, such as the garage, conservatory or a loft room
- Pull stored boxes away from garage walls and corners so those areas can be reached
- Say whether the garage opens into the house through an internal door
- Mention where you have seen false widows, if anywhere
Spiders from the garden will still turn up now and then, especially in autumn. If webs and spiders build up again in the rooms that were treated, get back in touch and tell us what you are seeing.
Fewer Spiders in a House With a Big Garden
Small changes at the edges of the house help most. Reducing spiders around windows and doors has more detail, and Spider Control Brent covers homes across the borough.
- Fit a brush strip along the bottom of an up-and-over garage door
- Clear webs and egg sacs from garage rafters, shed corners and the conservatory roof every few weeks
- Store things in lidded plastic crates rather than open cardboard boxes
- Switch off outside lights by the back door and conservatory when not needed, or use warmer-coloured bulbs
- Cut back climbers and shrubs that touch window frames, and fill gaps round bay window frames
