Outdoors, spiders are beneficial, helping to control many insect pests. They do this indoors, too, and lots of webs throughout the home can be indicative of a larger insect problem. To eliminate house spiders and- perhaps more importantly- the germ-spreading insects they feed on, just follow our general guidelines for home insect control:

• Keeping doors, windows and screen doors tightly sealed and closed throughout the year, but particularly during the spring, summer and early fall.
• Keeping floors, counter-tops and cupboards clean and dry. In similar fashion, store any opened food in airtight containers and clean off your breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes right after eating.
• Creating a chemical barrier around your home with a multi-purpose insecticide. A six-foot application around the entire perimeter of your house is recommended since insects and bugs like to wriggle through door cracks and squeeze through minute cracks in walls and foundations.
• Treating the places bugs like to hide, such as along baseboards, under sinks, along windows and doors, in the garage, in the basement and even in cupboards (after everything has been removed), with insect and spider killer.

Eliminating potential insect water sources such as dripping faucets, leaky plumbing, pet water bowls, soggy sponges and wet rags, as well as soda and beer cans that still contain a few drops of liquid.