How do you keep spiders, etc, out of your home?

We have a pest control company come out and spray the exterior of the house and the lake cabin in the spring and again the fall. I haven't seen any spiders in the house at all since we started having him come, and the ones at the cabin are way, way down too.

I mix several drops of peppermint essential oil in a spray bottle of distilled water, then spray all along the baseboards in the house. I reapply every week or so. The water will evaporate but the smell of the peppermint repels spiders and other creepy crawlies.

Here's the website where I found the directions.

Tell him that NPS's Science Friday says that spiders are very nurturing and don't really like to bite.

Thanks for the essential oil tip, Peas. I have way too many spiders around.

I spray around the foundation, the porches and in the garage with something an exterminator recommended for earwigs and it takes care of spiders and other bugs as well.  I get it at co-op.

Pest control is the way to go.

We have professional pest control since we had our house built in 1991. You would think the house and grounds would be saturated with the stuff, but we still got a wolf spider in the house last night. We also have some black widows outside that we spray with the foaming wasp stuff. The pest guy says spiders are a bit more difficult to treat because they walk way up on their legs and don't get the poison on their bellies.

I spray the area around my doors, windows, air vents and water pipes with Bengal twice a year. If something makes it across one of those thresholds, it dies within a few feet. I have no mercy when it comes to critters in the house..

I don't spray the inside of my garage, however. I have found that a few spiders in the garage translate to significantly fewer roaches and other creepy crawlers even getting close to the doors. In my garden, spiders, praying mantis, and lizards are protected species and welcomed guests. I even put up markers to show where my Golden Orb spiders have strung their webs.

Marcy

Okay, where do you live because, if you are in a spider free zone, I need to move there IMMEDIATELY!  I hate spiders.  Scare me to death and despite spraying they are always getting in 

does the peppermint oil repel or kill the spiders? I have zero desire to kill them, they don't bother me personally, but it would be nice to keep some of them out of my house. They love my bathroom for some reason.

I live in Western Washington. I may just live in a good house- 12 years ago I lived in another house with a daylight basement and we did get a lot of spiders down there. Maybe people's houses aren't constructed properly or sealed right or something? I don't know but I never see spiders in my house.