House wash experiences and spider infestation best practices

Taking the long weekend to pressure wash the house. We get these nasty bag spiders by the thousands on an open porch and the nests are almost stronger than paint, caulk, soap and pressure washer combined. I’m walking a fine line between cleaning up 10,000 spider bags/pods/nests and ripping the paint off the porch. I’m using a eucalyptus based soap which is not doing much but does seem to really piss off the spiders. I’ve been reading peppermint oil is something that might keep them away. The problem is all of the bugs, which attracts the spiders I assume, and attracts the invasive Cuban tree frogs and native toads. The frogs then shit on the house and trim under the porch and their droppings must be acidic as hell because it seems to stain the paint black and that doesn’t wash off. So I think I’m seeking advice on:
1) any success you’ve had with different types of soap/bleach to wash your house exterior
2) any success you’ve had spraying for a spider infestation

my plan as of now is:
A)Finish this god awful pressure wash job
B) repair damage done to paint and caulk lines from the pressure washer
C) clean again and paint the frog shit stains
D) spray peppermint oil about the entire porch regularly
E) move my bug zapper to the front porch to cut down the food source
F) continue to catch the Cuban tree frogs and feed them to the bass in my pond
G) wash the porch more frequently than every other year

happy thanksgiving weekend

 

Several more reasons for me not to live down south, I guess. <---I keep telling myself, there are reasons living with winter is useful.

Good luck with your project.

 

Yikes, Thank goodness we get a good winter kill here, and on that note. I am 60 and winter is starting to take a toll on my old bones now. A peppermint oil solution is good to keep the mice out of the engine bays. Good Luck.

 

Just curious, have you tried any mild solvents like Isopropyl Alcohol to get rid of the residue? That stuff will cut through lots of grime that soap and water won't touch, and should still be pretty gentle on your paint.

 

I haven’t but I’ve hired the project to a painting company in the past and they used a pretty strong bleach solution that seemed to do a lot better than my soap. Bleach will probably be my next step, especially on the mildew in shady areas.

check my previous assessment, the black shit stains are more likely all of the spider droppings. I’m going to keep cleaning and spraying until I conquer the nasty little bastards

 

Spider poop hardens up, I guess. I get that in my basement in certain spots where they congregate in the laundry room.

 

I hate spiders and snakes, I think that’s an old Charlie Pride song

 

Or Jim Stafford

 

I don't know if this will help but, years ago, when we had apple orchards we had Flat Headed Borers that would tunnel into the trunk of the new trees and wind up killing them. We painted the tree trunks white, to reduce sun damage which, in turn would make it easier for the little worms to get in. We also mixed some Lindane in with the paint to kill anything that would attempt to get in. Lindane was found to be a carcinogen by California and was a restricted use permit only compound but, I think they still use it to kill lice. It's about the only chemical that will kill Daddy Long Leg spiders too since they don't breath, they have to ingest the AI to be successful.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindane

Maybe something like Dominion 2L? I've used it to kill Agave Weevils here in AZ.

https://www.domyown.com/dominion-2l-termiticide-concentrate-p-1223.html