House Spider — Identification & Control

• Body — 5-8 mm (females); males roughly half that size.
• Color — brown to grey-brown with lighter cream, tan, and dark chevron markings on the abdomen. Highly variable individual to individual.
• Shape — round bulbous abdomen; long thin legs.
• Web — irregular three-dimensional tangle, not the flat orb of garden spiders. Often in corners of ceilings, in undisturbed cabinet corners, under furniture, and in garage rafters.
• Behavior — sedentary; will hang in the web waiting for prey. Retreats fast when disturbed.

They are frequently misidentified as more medically significant species — especially brown recluses. A licensed inspection settles the ID with confidence.

House spiders are patient sit-and-wait predators. They spin an irregular sticky-strand cobweb in a corner and wait for small flying insects — gnats, small flies, mosquitoes, moths — to blunder into it. In a home with an active small-insect population, they can catch dozens of prey items per web per week. In a home with no insects at all, they cannot survive.

Adults live about a year. Egg sacs are pale-brown paper spheres containing 100-400 eggs, usually attached to the web in a protected corner. A single house spider producing several egg sacs across a season can populate a garage or basement corner quickly.

No. Common house spiders are not medically significant. Their bites, when they happen at all, produce a small local red mark comparable to a mosquito bite. They are not aggressive; almost every documented 'spider bite' turns out to be something else — bacterial skin infection, MRSA, other insect bites, or contact irritation.

The two medically significant spiders in NC are the black widow (well-established) and — very rarely — the brown recluse (not established, occasional hitchhikers). House spiders are neither. If your identification is uncertain, save the spider and get it identified before assuming risk.

• Ceiling corners in rooms with lower foot traffic — spare bedrooms, dens, garage-facing rooms.
• Garage interiors, especially rafters and stored items.
• Basement corners and along overhead pipes.
• Behind and under furniture that is rarely moved.
• Cabinet corners and inside seldom-opened cupboards.
• Attic corners.
• Around exterior lights that attract small insects.
• Behind exterior shutters and inside porch/patio-ceiling corners.

The Triangle's warm humid summers produce large populations of small flying insects — gnats, midges, small flies, moths — that house spiders feed on. Homes with older construction, undisturbed storage areas, garages, and periodic small-insect intrusions provide both the food and the habitat house spiders need. Even brand-new, well-sealed homes routinely develop house spider populations as small insects sneak in through doors and screens.

Ecologically, house spiders are useful — they eat mosquitoes, gnats, and flies indoors. Many homeowners tolerate a few in low-traffic corners. Where the tolerance ends is a personal preference.

Total spider elimination in a Triangle home is neither realistic nor necessary. What professional service does deliver is substantial reduction:

• Perimeter and interior residual treatments in known harborage areas — corner voids, garage rafters, basement joists.
• Web removal as part of the service — physically brushing down cobwebs breaks the egg-sac cycle.
• Small-insect reduction — general pest control that reduces the flying insects house spiders feed on is the most sustainable long-term reduction.
• Exterior perimeter service around light fixtures and entry points where spiders concentrate.
• Focused garage/basement treatments in the harborage zones homeowners find most bothersome.

Every plan is scoped with a personalized quote based on how much reduction is wanted and where.

• Vacuum or brush down cobwebs regularly — especially in garages, basements, and porch ceilings.
• Reduce small-insect entry: repair door sweeps, screen windows, seal utility gaps.
• Replace bright white exterior lights with yellow bug lights that attract fewer small insects.
• Declutter garages and basements — less clutter equals less harborage.
• Regularly move stored items to disturb potential webbing sites.
• Trim shrubs and vegetation back from exterior walls where light-loving insects congregate.
• Tolerate a few in low-traffic corners — they eat mosquitoes and gnats — while treating the areas that bother you.