Your porch lights are likely drawing in flying insects. Spiders like that because it means your lights are an easy gathering place for food.
There’s no experience quite like walking face-first into a web on your own porch. It certainly feels personal. But the truth is that it’s probably the fault of your porch lights.
Porch lights, particularly the bright white or blue-toned types, tend to attract all kinds of insects. Moths are the first that come to mind, but midges, mayflies, beetles, and anything else that navigates by light will gather just the same. The sheer concentration and variety of insects makes your lights a reliable food source for spiders. So the orb weavers and other web builders eventually catch on and start building.
Doorways tend to see a lot of spiders. Web builders need something to anchor to on both sides of an open space and insects have to fly through open spaces. Door frames give them anchors so they can build. This is also true for porch railings and columns, as well as window frames.
As if that weren't enough, a lot of orb weavers will take down their webs near dawn, consume the silk, and rebuild the next evening. You can sweep away a web at 9 am and see another one at 9 pm. This tends to be at its worst around late summer.
To fix the problem, change the food supply. Switch porch bulbs to warm-toned or yellow LEDs, both of which attract far fewer insects. Then move the fixture away from the doorway if you can. If not, use a motion-activated light. Then cut back on vegetation on the porch. Lastly, knock down webs as you find them, because if you keep doing this, spiders will be more likely to relocate.
If spiders keep rebuilding across your doorway, Mosquito Squad of Fenton - Brighton can help. Mosquito Squad's home and yard coverage treats the porch, foundation, and entry points where spiders build. This will help you protect the entrances your family uses every day.
