Get Rid of Spiders in Your Garage & Shed Spaces

Discovering a spider lurking in the corner of your garage or shed can be a very unsettling experience. While these eight-legged critters play a crucial role in the environment, and with controlling other pests and insects, their presence in our storage spaces is often less than welcome.

Whether it’s the fear of stumbling upon a hidden spider web or the desire to maintain a clean environment, finding effective ways to keep spiders out of these outdoor storage spaces is a common concern. We explore the reasons why spiders are drawn to these areas and pest control tips to help ensure your garages and sheds remain spider-free zones. These natural solutions can help you reclaim these areas back from unwanted eight-legged guests.

Why Do Spiders Like These Areas?

Spiders are attracted to dark, damp storage spaces like garages and garden sheds primarily because they provide an ideal environment for them to live and hunt. They offer protection from the elements, are typically quiet and less disturbed by humans, and often contain items that attract bugs for spiders to eat. If these 8-legged critters are getting their basic survival needs met in your garage, they’ll never leave. For spiders seeking shelter and food sources, delicious insects, water, and a safe space to hang out is like paradise!

How to Keep Spiders Away From Garages and Sheds

There are ways to help keep spiders out of these spaces. Here are six DIY tips for homeowners that will help you shutdown the five-star spider resort operating in your garage and outdoor storage areas.

1. Get rid of those cardboard boxes

Cardboard boxes are common garage and storage area accessories. Even though you swear you only put a couple of boxes back there, somehow there are now dozens! Pests like silverfish, earwigs, and–everyone’s favorite–cockroaches LOVE cardboard boxes. They nibble on them, hide inside them, and multiply faster than the cardboard boxes themselves. 😉 To a famished spider, garages are beautiful buffets of these insects.

Cut off their snack supply by swapping the boxes for airtight storage containers.

2. Clean up other clutter

Getting rid of any other clutter will further ensure bugs have nothing to feed on or hide in. Cluttered spaces provide ideal hiding places and breeding grounds for spiders and their prey. Piles of outdoor cushions and furniture, garden tools, and other items stored in a disorganized way will create numerous nooks and crannies where spiders can build webs and lay eggs undisturbed. By organizing these areas and minimizing clutter, you eliminate the sheltered spaces spiders seek for protection and reproduction.

3. Keep the lights off

Even though spiders like dark places, keeping the lights on at night attracts the bugs they need for food. Use natural light sources like windows to usher them out. If possible, avoid working at night in these areas so lights don’t have to be used. Be sure to turn off lighting on the outside of sheds and garages, too.

4. Fill in small openings

Spiders can fit through the tiniest cracks and crannies, don’t give them easy entry points into your garages and sheds! Use caulk to seal up any openings and consider using weather stripping on your garage door and shed doors to fill any gaps between the door and the ground. This will prevent other bugs from settling into these spaces, too.

5. Fix any leaks

Spiders—like all living beings—require food and water. A leaky faucet or water dripping in from the roof will encourage spiders to stay. Fix any leaks and prevent future ones to help send spiders elsewhere.

6. Use a botanical spider repellent

If you have a spider infestation keeping the lights off and cleaning clutter might not be enough to deter these pests. Using a fast-acting, botanical repellent is the best solution. Stay Away® Spiders uses a blend of essential oils to effectively repel spiders without the use of harmful chemicals. The plant-based ingredients in Stay Away® Spiders keeps arachnids out by emitting scents that smell pleasant to people, but offensive to spiders.

For continuous 30-day protection from spiders even once they are gone, simply place one pouch every 25 sq ft in garage and shed areas where spiders or webs are present. Replace after 30 days.

Keep Spiders Away with EarthKind

If you’ve discovered an issue with spiders in your garden shed or garage area, there are ways to help! Depending on the type of spider, you may want to keep them out because it’s dangerous, or you may just want to be able to walk into this space and not run into a cobweb.

Whatever your reasoning, placing a Stay Away Spiders pouch in the area can help get rid of spiders and prevent them from returning. Shop EarthKind products online or in a store near you.

“Heck yes I’d use this again! I was having issues with spiders in my laundry room but was worried about my three cats being harmed. As soon as I read the ingredients and they were all-natural, I was excited. The cats were not bothered by it and after two days I never saw another spider.” — Melissa K.