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Install Door Sweeps
Door sweeps are simple and effective for excluding spiders, Dobrinska says. Lots of spiders just walk right into your home.
Once you’ve sealed up cracks and gaps, focus on the spaces beneath your doors by checking your door sweeps. If they’re broken or old, replacing them is an inexpensive way to keep mice and spiders out of your home — and by extension, your basement.
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Alter Exterior Lighting
Spiders eat insects, and your security, porch and garden lights attract an endless supply of tasty bugs. Even your living room lights can be a magnet. Altering your exterior lighting will keep those web-spinners from taking a prime seat at the buffet.
Altering doesn’t mean extinguishing; you don’t have to live in total darkness to keep spiders at bay. “Instead, use sodium vapor bulbs that are less attractive to flying insects,” says Dobrinska. Close your blinds at night to block interior light from illuminating the outdoors. This will help fireflies, too.
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Minimize Mulch
You know that attractive landscape mulch we spread liberally around our yard and garden? It’s also attractive to spiders. That’s because mulch provides food and shelter for lots of things spiders actively hunt, like insects and other arthropods.
Keep mulch away from your foundation to deter spiders from hanging out near easy-access paths into your home and basement. And use less of it in your yard, Dobrinska says.
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