How to Get Rid of Spiders in Your Home
Author:
Mosh Latifi
Co-Owner of Ecocare
Published:
Oct 15, 2026
Spider season in the UK runs from late September through to November, and if you have noticed more spiders than usual running across your floors or sitting in corners, you are not imagining it. This is the time of year when spider activity indoors peaks, and for a lot of people, it is genuinely unsettling even knowing that the spiders themselves are harmless.
The good news is that there are practical, humane steps that make a real difference. This guide covers what drives spider activity in autumn, what actually works to reduce it, and when indoor spider numbers might be pointing to something worth getting looked at professionally.
Table of Content
Why Spiders Come Indoors in Autumn
Understanding why spiders appear in autumn makes it easier to deal with them effectively. It is a common assumption that they are coming in from outside to escape the cold, but that is not quite what is happening.
Most of the spiders you see in your home during autumn have been living there all year. They spend the warmer months in undisturbed areas, behind furniture, under floorboards, in loft spaces, and in the gaps and voids within the building fabric. What changes in autumn is behaviour. Male spiders leave their webs in search of females to mate with, and this is what brings them out into open, visible areas of the home.
Spider season is essentially mating season. The large house spiders running across living room floors in October are males on the move. Once mating season is over, activity levels drop back and the spiders return to their quieter habits. This is why spider sightings tend to feel concentrated over a few weeks rather than being spread evenly throughout the year.
Are House Spiders Dangerous?
No. Every species of spider commonly found in UK homes is harmless to people and pets. House spiders, false widow spiders, cellar spiders, and daddy long legs spiders are all native to the UK and none pose any meaningful risk in a domestic setting. False widows attract a disproportionate amount of press coverage but bites are extremely rare, typically minor, and comparable in effect to a mild bee sting.
From an ecological standpoint, spiders are beneficial. They catch and eat the insects that most people find far more annoying, including flies, mosquitoes, moths, and crane flies. A spider living in your home is providing a free pest control service.
That said, arachnophobia is one of the most common phobias in the UK, and the distress it causes is real regardless of whether the spider poses an objective risk. Getting spiders out of the living areas of your home is a perfectly reasonable thing to want to do.
How to Get Rid of Spiders Humanely
The most important thing to say upfront is that killing spiders is not necessary and not recommended. Relocating them is straightforward, quick, and means the spider ends up doing its job somewhere less disruptive to you.
A glass or jar placed over the spider, with a piece of card slid underneath, is all it takes. Place it outside in a sheltered spot, a hedge, a garden border, or an outbuilding, rather than on an exposed surface where it would struggle. This is the fastest and most effective way to deal with a spider you do not want in the room.
To reduce the number finding their way into living areas in the first place, the following measures genuinely work.
Seal Entry Points
Spiders get in through gaps around window frames, door thresholds, cracks in external walls, and the points where pipes, cables, and conduits enter the building. Sealing these with draught excluders, silicone sealant, or expanding foam reduces the number coming in from outside and is worth doing for general pest prevention regardless of spider season.
Check window and door seals in particular at this time of year. Worn or damaged seals are among the most common entry points and are straightforward to replace.
Vacuum Regularly and Thoroughly
Regular vacuuming removes existing webs and disturbs the sheltered spots spiders prefer to settle in. Focus on the areas where activity is concentrated: corners near ceilings, behind and beneath furniture, along skirting boards, under beds, and in any space that does not get disturbed on a regular basis.
A spider whose web is repeatedly removed will move on. Consistent hoovering in the areas where you are seeing most activity is one of the most reliable ways to reduce how settled spiders become in your home over the autumn months.
Use Natural Deterrents
Some natural scents have genuine deterrent properties for spiders, and the evidence for these is considerably stronger than the oft-repeated conker myth, which the Royal Society of Chemistry found to have no scientific basis.
Peppermint oil diluted in water and applied to windowsills, door frames, and known entry points is the most commonly cited and most widely supported natural deterrent. Spiders are sensitive to strong scents through their legs, and peppermint oil applied consistently and refreshed regularly does appear to discourage activity in treated areas.
Citrus peel placed in corners is another option. It will not eliminate spiders entirely but it is harmless and costs nothing. Cedar wood, lavender, and tea tree oil are also used by some people with reasonable results.
The key word with all of these is consistency. A single application will fade quickly. For natural deterrents to have any effect, they need to be refreshed regularly, particularly after cleaning.
Reduce the Insect Population
Spiders follow their food source. If your home has a significant population of flies, moths, midges, or other small insects, it will support a larger spider population than a home with very few. Reducing the insects reduces the incentive for spiders to settle.
Keep windows screened during warm periods. Manage food waste carefully and empty kitchen bins regularly. Keep drains clean and free of the organic build-up that attracts drain flies and fruit flies. Address any flying insect issues promptly rather than waiting for them to resolve themselves. Fewer insects means fewer spiders.
Keep the Home Clutter-Free
Spiders prefer undisturbed environments. Boxes, piles of clothing, stacked books, and any area that does not get regularly accessed all provide ideal conditions for spiders to settle. Keeping storage areas tidy and organised reduces the number of suitable spots available to them.
This is particularly worth bearing in mind for loft spaces, garages, and garden sheds at this time of year. These areas tend to have high spider populations in autumn and winter, and keeping them reasonably organised makes them less hospitable.
Turn Outdoor Lights Off Where Possible
Outdoor lighting attracts the flying insects that spiders feed on. Lights left on overnight around windows and external doors draw in moths, flies, and other insects, which in turn attract spiders to those areas. Switching to motion-activated outdoor lighting or turning lights off at night reduces the insect activity close to entry points.
When Spider Activity Points to Something Bigger
For most households, autumn spider activity is manageable with the steps above and settles down naturally as mating season ends.
There are situations, though, where the volume of spider activity indoors is worth paying more attention to. Spiders are predators, and a very high number of spiders in a property indicates a significant insect population sustaining them. If you are seeing large numbers of spiders alongside other crawling or flying insect activity, it is worth considering whether there is an underlying infestation supporting them.
Crawling insects in particular, including carpet beetles, silverfish, and cockroaches, can sustain spider populations in ways that are not immediately obvious. Drain flies, fungus gnats, and fruit flies do the same. A spike in spider activity is sometimes the first visible sign that something else is happening in the property that has gone unnoticed.
If you have addressed the obvious entry points and insect reduction measures and are still seeing unusually high activity, a professional pest assessment is a sensible step. It is not that spiders themselves need professional treatment. It is that a professional can assess whether something else in the property is driving activity and advise on what, if anything, needs to be done about it.
EcoCare's BPCA-certified technicians work across residential and commercial properties throughout London and the wider UK. If spider activity in your home is pointing to a wider insect problem, or you want a professional assessment of what is going on, get in touch with our team today or call us on 0208 146 1490. We respond quickly and will give you a straight answer about what is happening and what needs to be done.
