Prevention

• 1). Search your basement family room for spider-sized cracks. If you have a window, check its edging. Make sure that it closes completely. Cracks along the wall at ground-level are also potentially arachnid entry points.
  
  
• 2). Look for additional points of entrance throughout the house. Make sure your doors are weatherstripped and open windows have screens. Spiders who enter your home above-ground might migrate to the basement.
  
  
• 3). Caulk cracks. Fill holes. Weatherstrip doors. Seal your home as tightly as possible. This will prevent spiders as well as other bugs from getting inside. If spiders don't have any prey to eat, they won't linger in your home, even if they get in.
  
  
• 4). Clear debris from around your home. Spiders and other insects live in stacks of wood and leaf piles. By moving these habitats to the periphery of your yard, you discourage insects from migrating into your home.
  
  

Removal

• 1). Bring a vacuum cleaner or shop-vac into your basement.
  
  
• 2). Use the vacuum hose to suck up the tiny spiders.
  
  
• 3). Remove the vacuum bag. Many of the spiders are still alive. Either throw the bag away -- in an outdoor trashcan -- or place it in your freezer overnight. The spiders will die from the cold.