Ceiling corners and high walls
Thin, tangled webs in the angle of a ceiling usually belong to the daddy long-legs spider, Pholcus phalangioides. It has a small, pale body and very long, fine legs, and it hangs upside down in a loose web. Disturb it and it vibrates so fast it blurs. It is common in bathrooms, stairwells and rooms with high ceilings, and it happily eats other spiders, including the large house spiders.
Behind and under furniture
House spiders build flat sheet webs with a funnel-shaped retreat at one end, usually where the floor meets something solid. Look under beds and sofas, behind bookcases and chests of drawers, and in the gap between a wardrobe and the wall. Furniture that is never moved gives them months of peace. Pulling it out once a season and vacuuming behind it removes webs before egg sacs hatch; how to stop spiders coming back turns that into a habit.
Along skirting boards and floor edges
Where a skirting board has pulled away from the wall, or floorboards have shrunk back from it, there is a gap leading into the space beneath the floor. Spiders shelter there and step out to hunt. Homes with suspended timber floors, like many in Willesden, have plenty of these edges.
Cupboards, under the stairs and airing cupboards
The cupboard under the stairs, a boiler cupboard, the back of a kitchen unit and the space behind a stored vacuum cleaner are dark, rarely opened and often a little warmer than the rest of the house. Boxes and bags stacked on the floor add more corners. Roof spaces are a case of their own, covered in why there are spiders in the loft.
Cellars and basements
Cellars are cool, dim and often slightly damp, which suits the insects spiders feed on as well as the spiders themselves. Many Victorian and Edwardian houses have a cellar or an under-floor void that nobody visits from one year to the next. Webs down there may be thick and dusty, with egg sacs hanging in them. Old coal holes, meter cupboards and the tops of cellar walls, where joists rest on brick, are worth a look with a torch. If the cellar is damp enough to smell musty, small insects will be breeding there too, and those are what keep the webs occupied.
Window frames, sills and outside walls
Check the outside of window frames, under sills, around door surrounds and behind external pipes. The noble false widow, Steatoda nobilis, builds untidy webs in exactly these places, as well as in sheds and fences. It has a glossy, bulbous brown body with pale markings. Move it with a glass and card rather than bare hands — are there dangerous spiders in Brent homes explains the bite risk plainly. Sunny sills also attract small jumping spiders, which hunt by sight and do not build webs at all.
Garages, sheds and outbuildings
An attached garage or a shed next to the house is often where numbers are highest. Doors that do not close tightly, stored garden furniture, cardboard boxes and a light left on all draw in insects and give spiders endless places to sit. Gardens with decking and rear extensions, typical of Queensbury, add gaps under boards and along newer walls.
How to check your home
- Use a torch at floor level after dark, when house spiders are most active
- Look for funnel webs low down and loose tangles high up
- Note any egg sacs: small, round, silky balls in or near a web
- Write down which rooms have the most, so you can compare over a few weeks
The rooms that come up again and again are explained in why spiders keep appearing in the same rooms. For help with a build-up, see spider control in Brent, which is £180 for the first room and £60 per additional room. You can book online and tell us where you have been finding them.
