How to keep spiders from making webs on porch.

How to Keep Spiders from Making Webs on Your Porch

So, you need to stop the spiders from spinning webs on your porch.

In this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn:

  • Why spiders are making webs on your deck, patio, or even security camera
  • Natural ways you can stop them from spinning webs outside
  • Commercial ways to aid you on your quest to go spider-free
  • How to keep spider webs away from your porch
  • And more

Bookmark this page for easy reference. You’ll probably come back to it a few times.

Sound good? Let’s get started and clean up your porch from cobwebs.

Last updated: 12/30/19.

 

Do you have spider webs on your deck?

Spider web between trees outside.
Spider webs are everywhere.

Spiders will form webs on your porch like crazy. If your porch or deck is littered in spider webs, here there are a few things you can do to help get rid of the cobwebs and stop them from making more webs.

This applies to brown recluse spiders, cellar spiders, and common house spiders.

You may have webs on your ceiling, light, furniture, or even your security camera!

We’ll cover some DIY methods you can do at home to clean up your porch from these nasty, sticky webs.

Why spiders are on your porch

If you have spider webs everywhere outside, the main reason why they’re making webs is none other than food.

Spiders are opportunistic predators for the most part and will eat what they can catch in their sticky webs. If you have a yard with a lot of bugs, flies, or other pests, spiders may take shelter. They’ll spin a web to catch these bugs.

And the porch often happens to be an area with a high number of bugs for them to eat. This is basically the reason why you may have a ton of webs.

Other common reasons why spiders make webs on your deck:

  • Large native spider population in your state
  • Spider season (hatchlings)
  • Best season for other bugs (more bugs mean more spiders trying to catch them)
  • Not cleaning up the webs from time to time (web buildup)
  • Spider nests nearby your home or garden
  • A high bug population around your home or yard

Whatever the case, we’ll cover some methods to get rid of the webs and stop them from making more.

How do I keep spider webs off my front porch?

Spider cobweb.
Check out these DIY techniques.

The first thing we want to do is to repel spiders from your porch.

No spiders on your deck means no webs, right? So here’s what you can do at home to help keep them away.

Over time you should see a reduction in spider webs. These are excellent ways to get rid of spiders outside and on your deck naturally.

There are a few things you can do to help keep the spiders away from your porch.

Make your own vinegar spray

Mix vinegar and water in equal parts in a spray bottle. Then spray it directly onto the web or porch area. This will help keep them out as vinegar repels spiders. Easy enough.

You’ll find that vinegar also helps keep other pests away from your porch also, such as ladybugs. The best part about this is that it’s all-natural.

Use mint

Spiders have been known to have and avoid mint at all costs.

You can make your own minty spray at home using an essential oil like peppermint oil. You just to add a few drops (2-3) to a gallon of water. Then pour it into a spray bottle.

The mixture should be strong enough for you to clearly smell the oil, but not overpowering. Spray it around your porch. This should help keep spiders away.

You can make your own like this:

 

Web eliminator spray

You can buy sprays that prevent spiders from being able to spin webs on various surfaces.

This can help stop them from making cobwebs on your deck lights, door, ceiling, or security cameras and doorbells. Use as directed.

Web eliminator spray can be bought at most hardware stores. You’ll find it labeled something like “cobweb eliminator.” Here’s an example.

How do you keep spider webs away?

Front porch free of spider webs.
Keep your porch clean and free of webs.

Once you’ve ridden the current pest problem, you’ll want to focus on preventing spiders from coming back to your home.

Clean your yard

No spider likes a clean yard. If you keep your yard clean, the spiders will naturally stay away.

With no spiders in the yard, you’ll have no webs to deal with on your porch.

Of course, most people are lazy or too busy to keep their yard in tip-top shape.

But here are some tips you’ll want to do:

  • Keep grass clippings off the grass (i.e. clean them up)
  • Prune your overgrown bushes and plants
  • Drape your compost and trash cans
  • Secure your water features (spiders tend to hang around areas with water)
  • Dispose of leaf litter
  • Unclog your drains
  • Clean up any dead plants or foliage
  • Remove any clutter, storage, or other things that you don’t need in the yard

This will help keep your yard clean, which will attract fewer bugs for spiders to eat. This brings me to my next point- getting rid of pests.

Get rid of bugs outside

This should be what you focus on AFTER you clean your garden. Getting rid of the bugs in your yard. This will help make the spiders go hungry because they have nothing to eat.

Depending on what kind of bugs you have out there, you’ll have to do your research to exterminate them.

Here are some tips:

  • See what bugs the spiders are eating
  • Check out their websites and see what they caught
  • Walk around your porch and see what bugs you have

You’re on a pest control website. You can do a search using the search box on this page (near the top) and search for whatever bug you have!

How to keep spiders away from porch lights

If you have spiders make webs on your porch lights or patio lighting, use a combination of the methods above and see what works best.

Any of these should be good for starters:

  • Garlic spray
  • Onion spray
  • Citronella candles
  • Supersonic emitters
  • Peppermint oil spray
  • Vinegary repellent

Try them out one at a time using the detailed directions in the previous sections.

Be sure to make sure you don’t get anything in your porch lighting and apply the methods safely.

How to remove cobwebs from exterior of the house

If you have a bunch of webs already, you can remove them using a broom and vacuum.

A small, portal vacuum seems to work best. Like a shop vac. Use the broom to reach high areas on your porch, deck, patio, or house exterior.

Then use the vacuum to suck up the webs from your broom. Repeat this once a month to keep cobwebs off your home. Sometimes it may be helpful to see which spiders are spinning the webs.

How to keep spiders from making webs on security cameras

If you have security cameras on your property (home or business), they’ll collect spider webs over time.

This is because they tend to attract many pests because of their warmth and awkward shape. This also makes it easy for spiders to make webs.

You should start by using sticky traps around/on the camera if possible. Then move to other methods like vinegar sprays, essential oils, citronella, and pretty much any of the methods we outlined above.

Read that section for more information. You may also want to add web eliminators. This can help stop them from being able to spin a web entirely on your camera.

Further reading

Here are some more resources that you may find helpful for your situation:

Did you get rid of the spider webs?

Front porch with a nice view.
Enjoy your spider-free patio deck!

By now, you have all the methods to get started.

These should help you prevent further webbing on your deck, porch, patio, and anywhere else outside your home from pesky spiders.

If you have any questions, leave a comment.

Or if you’ve had spider web problems before, leave some advice for our readers.

Lastly, let me know your thoughts on this guide. Did it help you? Consider telling a friend. Chances are if you live nearby, they may have the same problem!

Thanks for reading.

Note that some paints and surfaces may be damaged by the essential oil, so be careful. You also want to make sure you’re not spraying the oil near anything flammable. Spiders hate mint, so this should work to keep their cobwebs all over the place.

Reduce your porch lighting

Spiders are attracted to light.

You can help reduce the number of spiders on your porch by not keeping your porch light on. Turn it off at night. Turn off pathways markers. Switch to motion-sensor lights where possible.

Porch lights will attract spiders, moths, and other flies which are all bugs for spiders to eat. Another way to get rid of spiders outside naturally.

Use table salt

You can also make your own spider repellent at home using table salt and water.

Mix 2 tablespoons of salt per cup of water. Swirl until the salt dissolves. Then pour the mixture into a spray bottle and apply outdoors.

Spray the bushes, flowers, and other areas of your porch.

Don’t spray it on surfaces or plants that are sensitive to salt. You can repeat this process weekly until the webs and spiders are gone.

Essential oils

Essential oils for spiders.
A popular bunch of essential oils useful for bug repellent.

There are many other oils you can use besides peppermint. The process is the same- add 2-3 drops per gallon of water for a mild mixture. Then spray it outdoors to keep spiders and cobwebs away.

You’ll want to make sure the essential oil doesn’t stain your paint surfaces, plants, and isn’t harmful to pets. Some oils may be dangerous to pets and people that are sensitive.

Some that you can research include citrus, citronella, cinnamon, lavender, and more. Research each one and see which one works best for you. You only need a few drops with water.

Mint and chestnut essential oils have been shown to help as a natural pest deterrent.

Don’t overdo it. Essential oils are very powerful and you’ll want to be minimal. This should help you easily get rid of spiders on your deck.

Tomato leaves

You can buy some tomato leaves and mix them with water. Let the mixture sit overnight. The water should be infused with the tomato leaf scent.

Spray it outdoors where the spiders hang out. This may help deter them from your deck.

Citronella

Citronella is a proven pest repellent and you can use it in many different ways. Here are a few of them.

Make citronella spray

Get citronella oil and mix a few drops with water. Then add a few drops of dish soap. Then spray it outdoors to keep pests away.

The mixture will also kill many spider varieties upon contact, so it’s both a spider pesticide and repellent at the same time.

Use citronella candles

You can light a candle safely on your porch.

The scent will naturally keep spiders away along with many other pests, like mosquitoes.

Tea tree oil

This is another useful essential oil. You can use this to make your own repellent by doing the following.

What you’ll need:

  • 3 drops of tea tree oil
  • 1 gallon of water
  • 3 drops of dish soap
  • Half lemon wedge

How to make it:

  1. Add the tea tree oil, dish soap, and squeeze the lemon wedge all into a gallon of water.
  2. Swirl the container.
  3. Pour some into a spray bottle.

How to use it:

  • Spray it liberally where you see the spider webs on your porch.
  • You can also use it to keep spiders away outdoors on your furniture, yard, patio area, barbeque pit, or just outside.

Garlic

You can cut up fresh garlic and use the wedges around your porch as repellent stations. Spiders hate the scent and stay away. You can also mince garlic and mix it with water.

Then spray it on the webs outdoors. This will also help get rid of the spiders and stop them from making more webs.

Onion

Onion works similar to garlic. Cut up an onion and place the onion pieces outdoors. Or mince it and mix the pieces with water as a powerful natural repellent you can easily make for cheap.

Clean up your porch

Keeping your porch clean does a lot more than you think. For many homeowners, their porch is in poor shape.

Overgrown bushes, dirty deck lights, leaf debris under the crawl spaces- it’ll all contribute to more bugs taking shelter.

Because more bugs are present, the spiders will spin webs to catch them. Cleaning up your porch definitely helps keep spiders away.

Here are some things you can do:

  • Dust your door, patio light, and any furniture
  • Sweep the porch
  • Clean up any debris caught behind the planters, chairs, or potted plants
  • Dispose of leaf litter
  • Do a deep clean of your crawl space under your porch and around the area
  • Clean your awning or ceiling
  • Set up pest repellent or traps on the porch
  • Kill or exterminate other porch spiders

This should get you started on getting a tidy deck. You’ll see that doing this already eliminates the majority of problems.

Spiders won’t see it as a place to spin webs anymore, thus you don’t have to deal with them later on. Don’t skimp on this. Hire a professional cleaner if you’re feeling lazy.

You can’t expect them to just stop creating webs out of nowhere. Your deck provides them with a place to live, so of course, they’ll use it. You need to keep the area in pristine condition at all times.

Destroy any new webs you find. Kill any new spiders you come across. And of course, wear protective gear when cleaning. Use common sense!

Don’t go in blindly. Wear a mask, gloves, and cover your body up with closed shoes and clothing. You’ll see that spiders tend to avoid clean porches.

Commercial methods

Here are some other ways that you can try if none of the above work. Always stick with natural approaches when possible.

Supersonic repellers

These work by plugging into an electrical outlet and emitting a sound that humans can’t hear. You can place one of these on your porch and see if it works.

No exact proven data, but there are plenty of reviews for these products online. Pick out a decent one after you do your research and try it out. Get one with a return policy.

Use sticky traps

Sticky glue trap works amazingly well against spiders. You can buy these at most hardware stores. Use as directed.

Some allow you to attach to walls, so you can stick the trap to various surfaces and catch spiders as they walk across it. Replace as directed.

You can make your own like this:

 

Web eliminator spray

You can buy sprays that prevent spiders from being able to spin webs on various surfaces.

This can help stop them from making cobwebs on your deck lights, door, ceiling, or security cameras and doorbells. Use as directed.

Web eliminator spray can be bought at most hardware stores. You’ll find it labeled something like “cobweb eliminator.” Here’s an example.

How do you keep spider webs away?

Front porch free of spider webs.
Keep your porch clean and free of webs.

Once you’ve ridden the current pest problem, you’ll want to focus on preventing spiders from coming back to your home.

Clean your yard

No spider likes a clean yard. If you keep your yard clean, the spiders will naturally stay away.

With no spiders in the yard, you’ll have no webs to deal with on your porch.

Of course, most people are lazy or too busy to keep their yard in tip-top shape.

But here are some tips you’ll want to do:

  • Keep grass clippings off the grass (i.e. clean them up)
  • Prune your overgrown bushes and plants
  • Drape your compost and trash cans
  • Secure your water features (spiders tend to hang around areas with water)
  • Dispose of leaf litter
  • Unclog your drains
  • Clean up any dead plants or foliage
  • Remove any clutter, storage, or other things that you don’t need in the yard

This will help keep your yard clean, which will attract fewer bugs for spiders to eat. This brings me to my next point- getting rid of pests.

Get rid of bugs outside

This should be what you focus on AFTER you clean your garden. Getting rid of the bugs in your yard. This will help make the spiders go hungry because they have nothing to eat.

Depending on what kind of bugs you have out there, you’ll have to do your research to exterminate them.

Here are some tips:

  • See what bugs the spiders are eating
  • Check out their websites and see what they caught
  • Walk around your porch and see what bugs you have

You’re on a pest control website. You can do a search using the search box on this page (near the top) and search for whatever bug you have!

How to keep spiders away from porch lights

If you have spiders make webs on your porch lights or patio lighting, use a combination of the methods above and see what works best.

Any of these should be good for starters:

  • Garlic spray
  • Onion spray
  • Citronella candles
  • Supersonic emitters
  • Peppermint oil spray
  • Vinegary repellent

Try them out one at a time using the detailed directions in the previous sections.

Be sure to make sure you don’t get anything in your porch lighting and apply the methods safely.

How to remove cobwebs from exterior of the house

If you have a bunch of webs already, you can remove them using a broom and vacuum.

A small, portal vacuum seems to work best. Like a shop vac. Use the broom to reach high areas on your porch, deck, patio, or house exterior.

Then use the vacuum to suck up the webs from your broom. Repeat this once a month to keep cobwebs off your home. Sometimes it may be helpful to see which spiders are spinning the webs.

How to keep spiders from making webs on security cameras

If you have security cameras on your property (home or business), they’ll collect spider webs over time.

This is because they tend to attract many pests because of their warmth and awkward shape. This also makes it easy for spiders to make webs.

You should start by using sticky traps around/on the camera if possible. Then move to other methods like vinegar sprays, essential oils, citronella, and pretty much any of the methods we outlined above.

Read that section for more information. You may also want to add web eliminators. This can help stop them from being able to spin a web entirely on your camera.

Further reading

Here are some more resources that you may find helpful for your situation:

Did you get rid of the spider webs?

Front porch with a nice view.
Enjoy your spider-free patio deck!

By now, you have all the methods to get started.

These should help you prevent further webbing on your deck, porch, patio, and anywhere else outside your home from pesky spiders.

If you have any questions, leave a comment.

Or if you’ve had spider web problems before, leave some advice for our readers.

Lastly, let me know your thoughts on this guide. Did it help you? Consider telling a friend. Chances are if you live nearby, they may have the same problem!

Thanks for reading.

9 thoughts on “How to Keep Spiders from Making Webs on Your Porch”

  1. I never knew that reducing porch light can help reduce spiders naturally. I’ve noticed that my basement has had a lot of spiders recently and it’s starting to get annoying. It looks like I’ll have to get a pest control guy to spray my house again this summer.

  2. If I use an oil or lubricant (like literally spray veggie oil) on my porch, does that help to prevent webs from successfully sticking?

  3. To make a traditional spider repellent, fill up an empty spray bottle with peppermint essential oil and water. When you’re done, spray the mix in spots where spiders like to hang out, and you have a cheap, chemical-free solution that works.

    1. I did this yesterday after all was cleaned by the guys who came and did pressure washing in our townhome community. Wondering… how often do we need to reapply and spray? Thank you

  4. I have litlle, tiny “bugs” that make spider looking “nests” – not webs all over the vinyl siding of my house. I’m constantly cleaning them off, but they keep coming back. I thought they were spider mites, but now I’m not sure. What to do?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *