spider on garage floor

How To Keep Spiders Out Of Your Garage

Garages naturally attract spiders. And if you are like me, you don’t want them in your home, workshop, or garage. In this article, I will show you how to get rid of spiders in your garage and how to keep them out.

Why are there so many spiders in my garage?

Although garages seem like one of the least likely places to be invaded by insects or wildlife, this is not the case.

A garage can become a place where spiders and other pests take shelter from cooler temperatures in the Fall, warmer temperatures in the Spring, and avoid predators. Spiders choose to live in dark corners and any available hidden nooks, and crannies.

You will often find spiders hiding behind workbenches, cardboard boxes, or just about anything in your garage that gives them protection. I often find them building nests up in the corner where my wall meets my ceiling.

Since garages attract insects like flies and crickets, garages make a great place for spiders to prey on them.

Should I kill spiders in my garage?

Spiders come in different sizes, some poisonous and others not. Some spiders are aggressive and may try to bite you when you come close. Most will try to avoid you.

I remember as a young boy, my grandfather finding Black Widow spiders in his garage. Because of this, I was terrified to go into his garage. Whenever he found a Black Widow, he would kill them before they multiplied. He often found them in dark places.

If you have poisonous spiders like the Black Widow or Brown Recluse in your part of the country, you probably will want to kill them especially if you have small children or pets who may not realize that they are harmful and accidentally come into contact with them.

There are more than 40,000 types of spiders in the world, including poisonous ones, but the vast, vast majority of them are harmless. They simply make their way into your garage each year for warmth and food.

Since most spiders are not harmful and spiders are a beneficial species that keeps bugs away, we can think of them as nature’s original form of insect pest control. This means we should avoid trying to kill them.

But if you are like me, I prefer to get rid of them without killing them and just try to prevent them from getting into my garage and home in the first place.

So rather than kill them, let’s show you how to get rid of spiders and keep spiders from getting in your garage in the first place.

How to keep spiders out of the garage?

Keep your garage clean

One of the best ways to keep spiders out of your garage is to keep your garage clean. By keeping surfaces near the ground free from debris, clutter, and other items, you are less likely to attract feeder insects like crickets, flies, and ants.

While we all love a well-organized, clean garage, spiders hate them. Spiders are always looking for places to hide, build webs, and lay eggs.

Remove spills or other food sources

If you keep trash cans in the garage, use a pressure washer occasionally to clean your trash cans and the garage floor. This will help keep pests and any other creepy crawlies from taking up residence in your garage as they search for food.

When the smells and spills are gone, your garage will be less appealing to insects and as a result, spiders lose their food source. Adding a few sprinkles of tea tree oil or peppermint oil to your trash cans can be a natural spider repellent.

Spiders avoid some essential oils like tea tree oil and peppermint oil and as a bonus mixing them with water and putting them into a spray bottle can be a great way to reduce trash can odor as well.

Use spider repellent spray

Using spider repellents will deter these creatures from coming close to a certain area. The spray repels spiders and spraying spider repellents around entry points can keep them out of the garage. You can often find these products at your local hardware store, garden supply store, or home improvement store, or mix your own as I mentioned above.

Commercial spider repellents often contain natural ingredients like tea tree oil, peppermint oil, as well as other essential oils that spiders detest. If you search for spider repellents look for natural repellents over chemical repellents as they are safer to use around pets and children.

In addition to spraying near entry points, spray along walls, windows, shelving, workbenches, and any area that is dark or where there are nests or evidence of spider activity.

Prior to using natural or chemical repellents, use a vacuum, or broom to destroy any nests. Then apply liberally around the garage and the repellent will reduce the number of spiders you find in your garage. As more webs form, remove them.

Be sure to check windows and walls for spider activity and spray accordingly.

Use spider traps

If you are looking for something other than a repellent spray consider using spider traps. Many spider traps on the market, use a form of sticky glue to trap the spider or use chemical baits to get rid of the spider by killing them. Spider traps should be a last resort.

Spiders are attracted to scents in the trap and then get stuck. When looking for spider traps, look for those without a non-toxic chemical, as they will be safe to use around pets and children. The spiders get stuck and then die shortly afterward.

Place spider sticky traps near the corners of the garage, near the garage door, and around nests of spider caves, or holes where spiders hang out.

Glue traps aren’t the best choice when you just have a couple of spiders. Glue traps are a great choice when you have an infestation of spiders. Then they can be very effective, especially when used in addition to other remedies.

Keep your lawn and flower beds clean and maintained

Tall grass, overgrown flower beds, brush piles, rock piles, and stacks of firewood are natural habitats for spiders.

If you want to keep spiders out of the garage, you need to start with the area immediately outside and around your garage.

Start by removing dead leaves and other plant material near your garage. It won’t make your house spider-free, but it will help keep bugs and other pests that spiders feed on, at a minimum. Bugs, insects, and other pests use decomposing wood and plant material for food, and when you remove the bugs, getting rid of spiders becomes easier.

In addition to landscaping, keep clutter to a minimum around the outside of your house. Removing woodpiles or other objects like rocks or old lumber will reduce nesting opportunities and keep webs to a minimum.

Replace or repair ripped or missing screens on windows and doors.

Spiders can enter through ripped or missing screen windows. Keep them out by patching or replacing holes with new screen or screen windows. Spiders love to crawl into the window seal to feed on trapped insects or hide in the cracks.

Fill cracks or holes in the walls with caulk

Spiders love to avoid light and use cracks and holes for protection. If you seal cracks or patch holes in drywall, spiders will not be able to crawl inside to make nests.

Additionally, make sure your garage door has good weatherstripping installed.

Hire a pest control company

If you have tried to keep spiders away on your own or your spider problem gets worse, it is best to hire a pest control company to come in and either kill the spiders and other insects or use a commercial repellent.

I use a local pest control company to put a granule-based insect barrier around our home and it has drastically reduced the spiders in our house and garage. In addition to that, they vacuum up the webs on the walls, specifically in the garage and basement as well as treat the areas most likely to attract them.