How to Get Rid of Spiders in the House: UK Guide

If you want to know how to get rid of spiders in the house, the honest answer is that you can have far fewer of them, but not none. Put the ones you find outside, vacuum webs from the corners, close the gaps they walk through, clear the clutter they hide in, and reduce the insects they eat. Do those five things before you buy any product or book any visit.

Most people reading this have just met a large, fast spider on the living room floor in autumn. That spider is very likely a male looking for a mate, and it is not a sign that something is wrong with your home. The Natural History Museum (NHM) says sightings rise in autumn because of more observations, not because there are really more spiders.

There are about 650 spider species in the UK according to the NHM, or 680 according to the British Arachnological Society (BAS). Only a handful can bite through human skin. The NHM says around 12 have been recorded biting people and only two or three have given a significant or unpleasant bite. The BAS names the noble false widow as the only one whose bite may be medically significant.

That is why spider control is different from dealing with rats, cockroaches or bed bugs. Spiders do not eat your food or damage your home, and the NHM calls them useful pest controllers. The BAS goes further and says trying to eliminate them is futile, because new spiders soon recolonise. Our advice is to aim for a calm, spider-light home and not a spider-free one.

If you are worried about a false widow in particular, jump to the identification section. If you already know you want help, our spider control service explains what we look at. The table below sets out the plan by what you have found.

The common explanation is that spiders come in to escape the cold. That is not the main reason. The NHM says males of many species reach adulthood in late summer and autumn, then leave their webs to look for females. Its house spider guide says they move around at night, especially from August to October, and that is when they cross living room floors and end up in baths.

Weather affects how long this lasts. Stuart Hine, who handled spider identification at the NHM, explains that warm weather keeps doors and windows open during spider season, which lets in more wandering males. A warm, dry autumn lengthens the roaming period, while wet weather sends males into garages and attics. The sightings tend to feel sudden because they are all happening at once.

Sources do differ here. Newham Council's 2018 guidance said spiders come in for warmth at this time of year. Against that, the NHM says most spiders cannot comfortably live in centrally heated homes, and that house spider numbers indoors are declining because of better-sealed homes and central heating. One species does fit the warmth story: the NHM says the missing sector orb web spider often comes indoors in late autumn as temperatures drop, and builds on the inside of window glass.

The BAS adds a route most people never think of. In autumn, many spiders travel by ballooning, drifting on strands of silk, and some come in through open windows that way. They also arrive on items you carry in, so firewood, plants and boxes from the shed are all worth a shake outside first.

The British Pest Control Association (BPCA), the trade body, says pest control call-outs for false widows tend to peak in October. In practice, that means the time to act is before the peak. Seal gaps in June and July, and you will have far fewer visitors from August onwards. If you are reading this in October, seal now anyway, then keep windows shut in the evening or fit screens.

Knowing the species tells you what to do next, because most need nothing more than a glass and a card. Size is a poor guide to risk. The largest spider in the country is one of the least troubling to you, and a surprising number of harmless small spiders get mistaken for false widows.

The big brown one is a house spider. The NHM says six species of Tegenaria and Eratigena are common in UK homes. The BAS gives bodies of up to 10 mm for the common house spider and up to 18 mm for the larger Eratigena species, while the cardinal spider of southern England reaches up to 20 mm, and the NHM records males of it with a leg span of 12 cm. Despite that, the BAS says these spiders very rarely bite and that any bite is painless. The NHM's advice on larger spiders is less absolute: it says they can bite if handled, but the venom has little effect.

The thin one in the ceiling corner is the daddy long legs spider, also called the cellar spider. It has a tiny grey body, reaches up to 45 mm overall, and vibrates in its web when disturbed. The NHM says it lives mainly indoors all year and eats insects and other spiders, including house spiders. If you can live with one, it is doing some of your spider control for you. Do not confuse it with the flying crane fly, which is also called a daddy long legs.

The small black and white one on a sunny wall is a zebra jumping spider, about 8 mm overall. It hunts by day without a web and moves in jerky stops and starts. It often wanders in through open doors and windows, and it is easy to put back outside.

Two harmless species cause the most false alarms. Lace web spiders have a bluish, woolly web around a hole in a wall or window frame, and the NHM says they superficially resemble false widows but are harmless. Missing sector orb web spiders live around window frames, and the NHM calls them totally harmless to humans, despite the same resemblance. Check the web first: a neat wheel with one empty slice is a missing sector spider.

The name causes a lot of the worry. False widows are called that because they look a little like black widows, and the BAS points out that black widows are not found in the UK. Gravesham Borough Council counts six false widow species here. The three you are likely to meet are the noble false widow, the cupboard spider and the rabbit hutch spider, and the NHM gives clear differences between them.

The noble false widow is the largest. The NHM gives females as 8.5 to 14 mm in body length and males as 7 to 10 mm. It has a rounded, bulbous brown body, often with a cream pattern that people call skull-shaped, and legs of an even red to brown. The pattern is clearer in males and can be dim or missing in adult females, so a plain dark spider is not ruled out. It is found in and around buildings, often high in room corners and conservatories, where it hunts flying insects.

The web is often a better clue than the spider. Redbridge Council describes a loose tangle with a silk tube running back to a crevice, usually at least 1.5 to 2 metres off the ground, around window and door frames, eaves, gutters and outbuildings. Gravesham also lists south-facing walls and conservatories. A neat wheel is not a false widow web.

Figures vary a bit between sources. The NHM gives noble males as 7 to 10 mm, whereas Redbridge and the BPCA give false widow males as 3 to 6 mm, because they group several species together. Both are fair, but the NHM's species-by-species numbers are the ones to use for identification.

London is firmly in range. The BAS says the species came from the Canary Islands and Madeira in the late 19th century, is now very abundant in southern England, and lives mostly in built-up areas. Newham Council's guidance called it native to the UK, but the NHM and the BAS both say it was introduced. The NHM says that one fourth species, the Mediterranean false widow, arrives in imported grapes but is not established here.

Do not try to identify one up close with your hands. Take a photo from a safe distance with a coin or ruler nearby if you can, and compare it with the table. If you are still unsure, send us the picture through our contact page before you decide to do anything.

False widow bites are rare, and the tone of some headlines does not match the evidence. The BAS says the risk of being bitten, and of a bite needing medical attention, is very low, and that most bites are no worse than a wasp sting. The NHM says they bite only when trapped or squashed, often in clothing. Hine, who has been bitten three times, described a slight sting and a little numbness.

Redbridge Council says pain at the site usually lasts 1 to 12 hours and rarely more than 24, and Newham gives the same picture of small puncture marks, local pain and swelling. Gravesham says some people have throbbing pain, swelling and tingling in the fingers. It also states that no one has died from a spider bite in the UK.

The stronger evidence runs the other way too, and we would rather you had both sides. A 2021 University of Galway study, using spiders that had been clearly identified, found that some noble false widow bites caused debilitating pain, tremors, blood pressure changes and nausea, and that a few needed hospital care. It also recorded rare but serious bacterial infections. Keep in mind that this was a case series of confirmed and probable bites, so it shows what can happen and not how often it does. The study also found that 88% of bites happened in bed or when a spider was trapped in clothing.

Hospital figures point the same way, with limits. NHS data reported by LBC showed 100 admissions in England in 2025 for contact with spiders, up from 47 in 2015. That covers all spiders, and the report does not say how many were confirmed false widows. The BAS says many wounds blamed on this spider are probably something else, and that a spider is often assumed and not proven. The sensible reading is that reported bites are rising from a low base as the spider spreads, and remain uncommon.

Sources even disagree on which spiders bite. Gravesham says only females can, while Rochdale Council says males bite more often. Treat any false widow as able to bite. The NHM and Redbridge agree that infection is often a bigger problem than venom, which is why cleaning the wound comes first.

The NHS page on insect bites and stings does not name spiders, but Redbridge, Newham and the NHM all point readers to NHS advice, so use it as your guide. The NHS describes pain and a small, swollen lump that may look red, and notes that redness can be harder to see on dark skin, though the lump still feels raised. Follow these steps if you think you have been bitten:

For an ordinary house spider, the glass and card method is still the best one. Put a clear glass over the spider, slide a stiff card slowly under the rim, keep the card pressed to the glass, and carry it outside. The NHM's advice on wandering males is simple: Hine says the kindest thing is to let them outside. Handle gently, because the NHM notes that spiders are delicate.

Put it somewhere it can shelter. The BAS suggests a shed or garage, and that also helps because a spider dropped on a doorstep can walk straight back in. A spider catcher on a long handle does the same job from further away if you would rather not get close.

If there is one in the bath, it fell in. The BAS says spiders do not come up the drain because of the water-filled U-bend. Hang a towel over the edge overnight and it can climb out by itself. Do not run the tap on it, because that does nothing about the next one.

False widows need a little more care. Gravesham says not to handle one with bare hands, because it may bite in self-defence, and Newham says not to disturb the web. Hackney Council's 2013 advice was to trap it in a jar or glass and put it outside, as you would with any other spider. Redbridge recommends vacuuming the area. Rochdale asks people not to kill them and to move them humanely to a shed.

Our recommendation brings those together. If the spider is low and in the open, use a glass and card, wearing gloves if you prefer. If it is high up in a tangle web, use a vacuum with a long nozzle, then empty the bag or canister outside. Do not reach into cracks or behind frames with bare fingers, and do not lean from a ladder to reach an upstairs window frame.

Since most bites happen when a spider gets trapped against skin, a few habits cut the risk more than any product will. Do not leave clothes in a pile on the floor, shake out shoes and gardening gloves that have been in a shed, and pull the bed a few centimetres off the wall so bedding does not touch it.

Sealing is the single most useful thing you can do for indoor spider control, and the only step that keeps working while you are not paying attention. The NHM says nobody has yet invented an effective device to deter spiders, and that the remedy is to close windows and block gaps with plaster, draught excluders and insect screens. Darlington Borough Council gives similar advice: seal cracks in exterior walls and fit weather-stripping tightly around door frames.

The BAS lists the routes as windows, doors, drain pipes, overflow pipes, air-bricks, chimneys and items you bring in. Work round the outside of the house first, then round the ground floor rooms, with a torch. A pale line of daylight around a frame shows you where to start. Be thorough, because a small spider can use a very fine crack.

Two of those routes should stay open. Air bricks ventilate the building, so never block one to stop spiders. If you want a barrier, ask a builder about a fine mesh cover that keeps the airflow. The same goes for flues: never block a flue that serves a boiler, gas fire or stove. If a chimney is unused, have a qualified person advise on capping it, with ventilation.

Renters can do most of this without touching the building. Brush strips, draught excluders and magnetic insect screens are all removable. For anything that changes the property, ask your landlord first. If you have noticed the same gaps letting in other pests, a pest inspection covers signs and entry routes in one visit.

A spider that keeps being disturbed tends to move on. The NHM says house spiders build webs in garages, sheds, lofts and cavity walls, where they can grow large, and that they are less likely to be permanent residents of living areas because of disturbance. So use that. The goal is to make your rooms a poor place to stay.

Vacuum corners, the tops of curtains, behind furniture and under beds once a week from August to October, and once a month the rest of the year. Rochdale Council gives the same basic advice: remove visible cobwebs and vacuum regularly. Darlington says vacuuming webs and egg sacs is the most effective way to manage them. Use the crevice tool or a long-handled duster for high corners, and empty the vacuum outside if you have collected spiders.

Look for egg sacs as you go. The BAS says house spider females hang dirty-white egg sacs from ledges with a few strands of silk, and the common house spider builds its retreat in room corners or behind furniture. Removing a sac is one of the few jobs where a few seconds now saves you a lot of small spiders later.

Then deal with clutter. The NHM says cupboard spiders favour hidden, low, dark places such as under furniture, and rabbit hutch spiders like sheds and garden clutter. Piles of cardboard, bags under beds and stacks against walls are all good cover. Store things in lidded plastic boxes, keep items a little way off the wall, and clear out under the stairs and in the spare room before autumn.

Do the same outside, near the house. Bins, wood piles, plant pots and rubbish stacked against a wall all give spiders somewhere to live close to your doors and windows. Move them away from the wall where you can, and sweep webs from porches, window frames and door frames with a soft brush. For the loft, keep a clear walkway and store things in sealed boxes. A loft full of webs is normal and rarely needs treatment.

If you are moving out, webs in corners are one of the things inspectors notice. Our end of tenancy cleaning checklist covers where to look. The same routine also helps against other pests that like quiet corners, and our carpet beetle guide explains why old webs are worth clearing.

These are the two tips you will see everywhere, so we looked for real evidence. The best available is a small study by Andreas Fischer and colleagues, published in the Journal of Economic Entomology and reported by the Entomological Society of America. It tested the three natural repellents most often recommended online: lemon oil, peppermint oil and chestnuts.

The researchers put adult female spiders in a Y-shaped tube, with the test scent in one arm and nothing in the other. A brown widow and a garden cross spider avoided peppermint oil and chestnuts in more than 75% of tests. A third species, Steatoda grossa, was not significantly affected by either. That one matters most to UK readers, because it is the cupboard spider, one of our false widows. Lemon oil, the most popular tip online, had no significant effect on any of them.

There are big limits. None of the species was a house spider, so we do not know how the big autumn spiders respond. The authors note that these spiders mostly stay put as adults, so a scent may keep one from entering an area but not drive out one that has settled. A tube in a lab is also not a draughty window frame in Ilford.

On conkers, the write-up says chestnuts, and it does not confirm they were the horse chestnuts we call conkers. The usual theory is that conkers contain saponins, soapy natural compounds. For Discover Wildlife, Phil Gates reported finding no persuasive evidence, then ran a home test on daddy long legs spiders using soapwort, a plant high in saponins. They showed no preference. That is one small test using a different plant, so it does not settle the matter either.

So our verdict is this. Peppermint oil is cheap and low risk as a small experiment on a windowsill or door frame, but it should come after sealing, not in place of it. Keep neat oil off your skin and painted surfaces, and ask your vet first if you have pets, especially cats. Conkers will do little harm, but we would not count on them. Plug-in devices are the easiest to dismiss, given the NHM's view that no effective deterrent device has been invented.

Spiders stay where food arrives. The NHM says the noble false widow hunts flying insects, the cupboard spider takes woodlice and crawling insects, and the missing sector spider eats almost any flying insect that reaches its web. If your home feeds them, sealing and vacuuming will only go so far. Rochdale Council makes reducing food part of its false widow advice, and tells residents to clear dead flies, woodlice and other crawling insects.

Be patient with this step. The BAS says house-dwelling spiders can survive for months without food in very dry conditions, so hunger will not clear them quickly. Think of it as making your home less attractive over a season or two, not as a quick fix.

Outdoor lights are the first thing to change. A bright light by a door or window pulls night-flying insects to the exact spot where spiders build. Darlington Council advises using exterior lights only when needed. Derbyshire Wildlife Trust suggests motion sensors or timers, low-intensity warm white, yellow or amber light, and hoods that direct light downward. Move a security light away from the door if you can, and close curtains in the evening, so that lit windows draw fewer insects.

Inside, keep the kitchen clean and the bins lidded, and wipe windowsills and light fittings where dead insects collect. Check whether a bigger insect problem is feeding the spiders. Flies around a bin point to fly control. Flies gathering in a loft or around upstairs windows in autumn may be cluster flies. Woodlice along damp skirting boards suggest moisture, and woodlice control starts with finding it.

Other insect problems have their own guides, and fixing them helps here too. See how to deal with ants, silverfish and moths if you have seen them. Lots of spiders in one room is often a useful clue that something else is living there.

They kill the spiders they reach, and that is about all. A spray does nothing to close the gap the next spider will use, and it may also remove the spiders that were eating your flies. Newham Council's guidance said eradication treatment cannot guarantee that they will not return. That is why we put sprays at the end of the list.

Sources are not completely against them. Redbridge Council says that if you cannot vacuum, you should remove the food supply, and that an insecticidal spray from a DIY store may be needed, following the instructions. The BPCA says vacuuming usually does the job, that sprays aimed at prey may help when it cannot be done, and that some public health pesticides are not approved for outdoor use or may not affect spiders. Check that the label covers what you are treating.

If you do use one, treat it as a small, targeted job. Spray only where spiders are nesting and never over bedding, food areas, toys or pet bowls. HSE says members of the public should use only products labelled for general public use, should read and follow the label, and should never use biocides meant only for professional users. That includes products bought online from trade suppliers.

Storage and disposal matter as well. HSE says to keep these products in their original, tightly sealed containers, out of reach of children and pets. Its guidance on home and garden pesticides also says never to pour them down drains, sinks or toilets. Do not mix products or make your own stronger version.

We are also cautious about general fogging for spiders. It has its place for other jobs, but it does not close a single gap, so ask for a clear reason before you agree to one for spiders.

For some people, this is not a housekeeping question. If you sleep badly in autumn, avoid rooms, or will not go into the loft or the shed, a pest treatment will not solve it, because the next spider will have the same effect. The NHS describes a phobia as a form of anxiety, usually triggered by a specific object or situation, and lists animals among the common triggers. Its page gives dogs, insects and snakes as examples and does not name spiders, but the advice applies in the same way.

The NHS says to see a GP if you think you have a phobia and it is affecting your life. In England, you can also refer yourself directly to an NHS talking therapies service without seeing a GP. You need to be 18 or over, or 16 or 17 in some areas, and younger people are directed to children and young people's mental health services. The NHS lists cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) among talking therapies, and hypnotherapy and medicines are also listed as options.

For self-help, the NHS suggests breathing exercises, talking to someone you trust, and joining a self-help group, online or in person. It warns that searching for images online can be distressing, so take care with that, and it says places such as zoos may run sessions for people with phobias. Our practical advice for now is to ask someone else to do the glass and card job, and to do the sealing work before August so you meet fewer spiders while you get support.

Most homes do not. A spider exterminator, as people tend to search for it, suggests a job that clears the problem. Spider pest control does not quite work like that, because spiders keep arriving from outside. We would rather tell you this than sell you a visit you do not need. Try the steps above for two or three weeks first, unless one of the cases below applies.

Pest control for spiders does make sense in a small number of situations. These include false widows repeatedly found around beds or children's rooms, someone at home with a history of serious allergic reactions, webs on high eaves or porches you cannot safely reach, or a heavy build-up in an outbuilding or loft you are about to use. A landlord preparing a property or a business with visible webs may want it too, and our commercial pest control page covers premises.

The most useful part of a visit is often not the spray. It is working out why this room and why these windows, then closing the gap or finding the insects behind it. The BPCA says that sealing hiding places in high-risk areas such as porches and conservatories may reduce contact over the longer term. Ask any provider what they will do about the cause, and be wary if the only answer is a spray.

If what you have found may not be about spiders at all, check that first. A papery nest in the loft is a different job, and our guide to wasp nest removal covers it. The BAS says many wounds blamed on spiders are probably something else, so if you have bites and no spider, read bed bugs vs fleas first.

A few spiders are normal in any home, so they are unlikely to count as a landlord's problem on their own. Citizens Advice says a landlord will probably be responsible for an infestation if the tenancy agreement says so, or it says they will keep the home in a good and habitable state. The same applies if it comes from repairs they did not make, such as holes in walls, or if it makes the home unsafe. Landlords are usually responsible only once they know about it, so report things promptly and in writing.

The practical route is to report the repair, not the spiders. If a rotten window frame, a broken door seal or a hole around a pipe is letting them in, ask your landlord to fix it, and send photos. Citizens Advice also suggests contacting your council's environmental health team if you need advice. In a block of flats, ask your managing agent about shared corridors, bin stores and communal lighting, which are often the source of insects and webs.

Landlords can head off complaints at low cost. Fit brush strips and check window seals between tenancies, keep communal areas clear, and keep a note of the work you have done. If you manage several properties, our pest control services page lists what else we can cover.

You do not need to know the species before you contact us. Tell us where the spiders or webs keep appearing, whether it is indoors, outdoors or both, and send a photo if you can. If it sounds like something you can handle yourself, we will say so. We confirm the price, the number of visits and what is included in writing before any work is booked.

Our spider control has a starting rate of £99, which covers an initial inspection and targeted treatment. The price depends on the number of rooms or outside areas, access to high or enclosed spaces, and how long the problem has been going on. If you mainly want to know why they keep appearing, a pest inspection starts from £60 and reviews signs and entry routes.

Where more than one visit is agreed, our visit packages start from £160 for two visits in a one-bed home, with a 1-month written guarantee, and £210 for three visits, with a 3-month written guarantee. Packages include follow-up, proofing advice and a safety report. A guarantee does not mean that no spider will ever walk in, so ask what it covers. Larger homes cost more, and the prices page has the current list.

Council help varies, so check before you count on it. Redbridge Council, our home borough, lists false widow spiders among the pests it does not treat, and our Ilford pest control page sets out what it does cover. Dover Council refers residents to a contractor. To compare spider treatment with what other pests cost, see our guide to pest control costs in the UK.

We are based on Clements Road in Ilford, cover London, and carry public liability insurance. Our phone lines are open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm.