# cobwebs on covered porches



## BothFeet (Dec 3, 2007)

We have a full, wrap-around covered porch. Which we enjoy very much, but it is so much work to keep clean. The spider webs are the most difficult part. Holding a broom or vacuum over my head to get the entire ceiling is tedious.. The leaf blower can move my chairs around and blow away my cute little sign I had hanging near the door, but just tangles the webs and leaves them hanging. Pressure washer just balls the webs up, and leaves them hanging. 

Anyone sharing my pain or got any better ideas? I was thinking about trying a cobweb eliminator spray?


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## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

Came here looking for tips myself - I share your pain.

First, I think vacuumming is the only way to really get at the spiders, otherwise they just rebuild. I have collected some extra extension tubes to use for reaching up.

I wouldn't try sprays for cobwebs (see below though*), I would be afraid of the toxins getting to me too, and the spiders will just keep coming back. 
Here's a pest management sheet from UC Davis - http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7442.html

What helps me cope (don't want to feel like I'm channelling Miss Havisham though!) is that the spiders are there 'cause they're eating up little creepies you can't see, and the mosquitoes and flies, so they're really doing an extermination job for you. So I just think about Charlotte. And if good bacteria can make a home less available for the bad bacteria, maybe benign spiders might be good too.

*My extermination zeal is saved for black widow spiders:run: - I use a skinny long stick to probe around to make sure there's none of those rubbery webs, and when I do find them, I look look look for an egg case, & destroy destroy, with heavy rubber gloves on, 'till I get the spider. They're incredible escape artists. Then I get a can of Black Flag Spider Killer and shoot the spot really well. I've found brown colored spiders that have all the characteristics of black widows except the ebony colored body.


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## BothFeet (Dec 3, 2007)

At least someone shares my pain 
I don't mind the spiders, but I like to get my porch looking nice and clean a few times a year. Big dusty cobwebs just have to go. If they could kindly build their webs under the eaves or out in the trees that would be fine with me. 
I'm pretty anti-poison right up until it comes time for wasp and yellow jacket fighting. We get nests all over the outside of the house and on anything else you leave out. For that, we buy cases of wasp spray and I go all Lara Croft like at dawn with a spray can in each hand and a few more on my belt.


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