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So we were away from our home for 6 weeks and when we came back, we had cobwebs at a number of places in the house like the shower cabinets, ceilings, corners, closets, behind toilet seats etc. Is there a way to prevent cobwebs?

divya
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    Ridding a house completely of spiders is a daunting task and also comes with a side effect: more bugs of other types now that the spiders are gone. Best to learn to cohabitate as best you can. :) – DA01 Feb 17 '15 at 23:22
  • High level of nuclear bombardment for a protracted period would probably do it, but those gamma rays are so hard to find ... – bib Feb 18 '15 at 00:56

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They get in through small cracks and holes in the exterior of the house, usually near the foundation or under doors. If you seal any and all holes it will reduce the number of spiders.

They require water. A house that is absolutely dry will have no spiders.

Tyler Durden
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  • A positive side effect of extensive air sealing will be smaller utility bills and less drafts. If you hire someone to do the air sealing, make sure they do blower-door-assisted air sealing, where the house is pressurized or depressurized with a fan to find the leaks. – littleturtle Feb 18 '15 at 19:36
  • I am dubious. I live in the country. My house is pretty well sealed, but we have spiders all over. Use a wet dry vac to remove the cobwebs. Use a cyclonic separator (like dust deputy) to avoid clogging up the vacuum filter frequently. – mkeith Feb 19 '15 at 07:13
  • @mkeith If you have spiders, then the house is not well sealed. What do you think, they are teleporting into your house? Obviously there are holes through which they are entering. – Tyler Durden May 30 '17 at 13:25
  • @TylerDurden, spiders are small. They can walk right through the gap underneath a closed door. Baby spiders are very, very small. Also, they sometimes come in on us. Their dispersal mechanism is to send out long streamers into the wind. If the streamer catches on you, you may unwittingly transport the spider into the house. I think you are naive about spiders. – mkeith May 30 '17 at 16:32
  • @mkeith ...and I think I could find holes in your sill where they are coming in. – Tyler Durden May 30 '17 at 16:38
  • There are no holes in my window sills. But as previously noted, there is a large gap under one or two doors where a spider could easily walk in. There may also be entry ways along drain pipes in some spots. – mkeith May 31 '17 at 00:15
  • @mkeith A sill is a wooden casement that underlays the frame of the house. Houses have various pipes, wires and ducts that go through the sill. In many cases these penetrations are not perfectly sealed and are where spiders enter. – Tyler Durden May 31 '17 at 01:51
  • Oh, I see you mean sill in more general terms. This house is slab on grade foundation. Post and beam construction with steel posts and wooden beams. I believe the prime entry points are where drainage plumbing goes through the slab (toilets, bathtub, etc). There are also some ventilation exit holes in the wall. But there is not really a sill, I don't think. We do have two doors where you can see daylight underneath the door when it is closed. So those are good entry points as well. But I retract my comment about being naive concerning spiders. – mkeith May 31 '17 at 17:40