How to Keep Spiders Out of Your Garage: Best Killers and Repellents

What has eight legs and scares the crap out of most people?

Spiders.

Spiders choose to live in dark areas filled with lots of stuff – like your garage.

I actually don’t mind spiders, usually. Typically, I find wolf spiders or jumping spiders that eat other insects that would otherwise bug me (pun intended).

But here in Florida, we’re home to four species of widow spiders: Two different species of black widows, red widows, and brown widows.

After I saw the first black widow in my house, I was done. That’s where I draw the line.

But even if you don’t live where Black Widows call home, everywhere in North America has venomous spiders that we need to watch out for.

So how do you keep spiders out of your garage without resorting to burning your house down?

Here’s how to keep spiders out of your garage:

1. Take away their hiding spots
2. Clean out their webs and nests
3. Eliminate their food supply
4. Block their way in
5. Use a spider repellent

I’ll go into each of these steps in more detail below, and it should take less than an hour to get rid of spiders and keep them out of your garage for good!

In a hurry?
If you don’t have much time, use the links below to quickly find the Best Spider Repellents and Killers.
-Best Spider Repellent: Miss Muffet’s Revenge
-Best Spider Killer: Raid House & Garden Insect Spray
-Best Way to Clean Out Spider Webs: Terro Cobweb Eliminator Spray
-Best Spider Fogger: Raid Max Deep Reach Fogger

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How to Keep Spiders Out of Your Garage

The concepts behind keeping spiders out of your garage are simple, but you’ll still need to change a few things.

Once you’ve gotten rid of any live spiders you’ve found, follow these simple steps to ensure no unwanted guests move into your garage.

1. Take away their hiding spots

There are two things most garages have in common: clutter and dark corners.

In other words, a perfect home for spiders.

My garage used to be home to dozens of cardboard moving boxes where I was storing…well…junk.

So I threw out what I could and relocated the rest to plastic tubs that you can find at Target, Wal-Mart, or your local office supply store.

One of the other nasty places that spiders and other bugs hid was inside our golf club bags (which shows how often we used them).

If you want more info, here’s my simple method of decluttering my garage that won’t waste your entire day.

2. Clean out cobwebs and nests

Once your garage is clean enough to see everything, it’s time for the vacuum. 

I do this at least once a year while cleaning and lubricating my garage door. In between, I quickly look at the trouble areas once a week while doing yard work. If I find any new cobwebs, I’ll usually blow them out with a leaf blower.

Not only will you need to suck up any cobwebs that you find, but this is also an excellent time to “clean” any live spiders that you find. Spiders have fragile exoskeletons that can’t withstand the pressure of a vacuum cleaner.

Be sure to look in the corners of the walls, underneath any furniture, behind garage workbenches, and on the garage door hardware.

3. Eliminate their food sources

If you’re focusing on how to keep spiders out of your garage, think about the other bugs first.

Spiders eat other bugs, so they make their homes where they have food. Eliminate a spider’s food supply, and it will quickly find another home (or die).

You just cleaned out the clutter in your garage, so now you have to keep it that way. Make sure food or leftovers aren’t lying around. It may seem like a tiny crumb to you, but it’s a feast for the insects that attract spiders.

After that, you will have to get aggressive with your other garage pests. That means using a fogger or bug bomb to eliminate your insect population.

If harsh chemicals aren’t your thing, there are natural alternatives, but they will usually take longer to see results.

4. Block spider’s way into your garage

Spiders can fit into tiny openings like cracks in your foundation or doors and windows that aren’t adequately sealed.

In my case, it was a slightly larger opening (ahem) that I had to fix. 

Not only was this letting bugs and spiders in my garage, but it was sucking all of the cooler air out into the hot Florida sun.

Patch up any cracks in your walls, and make sure there’s a water-tight sealant on your walls. Then use a fitted screen or another type of bug netting over any openings you can’t seal up.

5. Use a spider repellent

Earlier, we eliminated the spider’s food supply. Now it’s time to deal with the spiders themselves.

In the next section, I list some of the best spider repellents and killers I’ve used. You’ll find a good solution, no matter the size of your spider problem.

Whether you want to go with a high-powered commercial solution or take the natural route and make your own organic concoction, there are several different spider repellents to choose from.

Boric acid is a common insecticide that kills bugs when they ingest it. It’s absorbed poorly through the skin, but it can be harmful to pets (and humans) if they try to eat it.

The Terro Spider Killer is an aerosol that can kill spiders directly or be sprayed in cracks and crevices and used as a deterrent.

If you want to go the natural route, grab a spray bottle with vinegar, ordinary dish soap, peppermint oil, or other essential oils.

Spray the mixtures around the edges of the walls, corners, and where you found spiders or insects when you cleaned out your garage earlier.

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Best Spider Repellents & Killers

Best Spider Repellent: Miss Muffet’s Revenge

I want to be clear about one thing right from the start: Miss Muffet’s Revenge does double duty. It kills and repels garage spiders, but it excels in keeping them away, so I put it in this category.

Our development was a brand-new construction. Shortly after we moved into our house, we started to see black widow spiders that were displaced.

I love spiders, but I draw the line at black widows.

After attempting a few products that didn’t work, I stumbled on Miss Muffet’s Revenge. After one application, the only spiders I found were dead ones.

The best part was that I never needed to spray again. Because I got rid of the black widow spiders that moved in, they couldn’t lay eggs, which also stopped future infestations.

My one complaint is that Miss Muffet’s Revenge only comes in a 64-ounce bottle, which is great if you have a large area to protect. One bottle will keep spiders away from your home and garage for up to 12 months. 

But if you only have a small spider problem, you don’t need that big of a bottle.

That said, I can’t recommend Miss Muffet’s Revenge enough. If you want to protect your entire home, there’s nothing better. 

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Best Spider Killer: Raid House & Garden Insect Spray

I recommend Raid House & Garden aerosol spider killer for minor garage spider problems or if you want to kill single spiders when you see them.

Occasionally we do get individual spiders wandering in our house and garage. I usually try to catch them and take them outside, but sometimes that’s impossible.

When that happens, I reach for a can of Raid.

It works on contact, so you’ll need to spray it directly on the spider. It kills even black widows and brown recluse spiders in a few seconds.

The bottles are small enough (and cheap enough) that I keep a few in different places throughout the house. For the occasional spider problem, this is all you need.

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Best Way to Clean Out Spider Webs: Terro Cobweb Eliminator Spray 

Terro Cobweb Eliminator is another product that does double duty. It can act as a contact pesticide, meaning you can kill any spiders you find, but it’s best as a web remover.

Spider webs are one of the hardest things to keep out of my garage. No matter how hard I try, I inevitably find a Daddy Longleg spider sitting on a web in one of the corners.

When spraying it on the wall, the Terro Cobweb Eliminator adds a thin coating so spider webs can’t stick to them.

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Best Spider Fogger: Raid Max Deep Reach Fogger

I’ve always considered foggers and bug bombs to be a nuclear option. They pump a high pesticide concentration into the air so that anything living in the room has nowhere to hide. This includes garage spiders.

Foggers can be dangerous to pets, so be careful when using them.

Several years ago, I had a bug problem in the apartment I was living in, and my last resort was a Raid fogger. It did the job well and killed everything, but I was always concerned about how much I was breathing in later.

If you decide to use a fogger, seal off any vents, windows, or doors that lead back into your home. The last thing you want is for those chemicals to find their way into your home’s air supply.

One can of Raid Max fogger covers an entire two-car garage. It’s rated for a 25′ by 25′ room with an 8′ ceiling (about 5000 cubic feet).

If you’ve tried all the other solutions, this is a surefire way to get rid of spiders and insects that call your garage home.

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FAQ’s

Can I Fumigate My Garage For Spiders?

Yes. There has been some discussion over the years about this, but fumigation has been proven to be an effective way to eliminate spiders.

In 2014, a study was done at the University of California, Riverside, to test whether fumigation was effective against several species of insects, including the Black Widow and Brown Recluse spiders.

While they found that all adult spiders were killed, they did caveat the findings by saying that it’s not currently known whether fumigation works on spider eggs.

Does Salt or Vinegar Kill Garage Spiders?

Salts will kill many insects and plants by dehydrating them, which is why bugs shrivel up after being sprayed with salt water. Boric acid, mentioned earlier, works in this way since its chemical compound is a salt.

Vinegar (acetic acid) kills spiders and other insects and is one of the most common natural pesticides (pdf source). However, it is a contact pesticide, so it only kills spiders sprayed with a vinegar solution.

Do Ultrasonic Pest Repellents Work On Garage Spiders?

No. Save your money!

Studies have shown that they do not repel spiders. While ultrasonic devices have some impact on certain insects, like crickets, spiders and ants were unaffected.

As this video shows, they’re not that effective on mice either.

In 2001, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned over 60 companies for making deceptive or downright false claims about their products.

If you’re looking to keep spiders out of your garage and home, stick with one of the proven methods we discussed earlier.

Does WD40 Kill Spiders in your Garage?

Many people try WD40 to kill spiders because they already use it in their homes.

According to some sources, WD-40 can kill spiders by blocking their breathing apparatus and asphyxiating them.

It can also repel insects and prevent them from entering your home if you spray it on windowsills, door frames, and screens.

While WD-40 can work as a spider repellent and pesticide, there are better options, as this video shows.

However, WD-40 is not a registered insecticide and may not be very effective or safe for this purpose. You may want to consider using a product that is specifically designed to kill or repel spiders and other pests.