Lamphier & Company

There are many people who wonder why so many ceilings are painted blue, especially in the Southern portion of the United States. A quick Google search on the topic will come with many articles that explain why only porch ceilings are painted a shade of blue. Many locals and theorists claim that the blue ceilings could be there for a few reasons such as to deter spirits or ghosts from the dwelling by mimicking the sky or water, to indulge in a peaceful environment by mimicking the sky, or the presence of “lye’ (Sodium Hydroxide) in the paint which may act as a bug deterrent. But why are we only painting porch ceilings blue?

Through my thousands of inspections on a variety of sites, I have come across numerous ceilings that are exposed to the elements and are covered with spider webs and bugs. Traditionally, these ceilings are bar joists and painted in white, making it a perfect nesting ground for spider webs. Why don’t we consider the potential for spider infestations when building or painting any ceiling exposed to the outdoors?

Working on multiple fire stations around Central Florida, I’ve encountered many apparatus bay ceilings, often exposed to the elements, frequently covered in spider webs. Firefighters we encounter often have a designated individual to “sweep” the ceilings daily to remove the webs. This simple task distracts a firefighter from their critical duties and is simply unnecessary.

After hearing these complaints from firefighters, we began experimenting with coating their ceilings a particular shade of blue to deter the spiders from nesting. Our goal, like the theories of the experts who investigated the blue ceilings in the South, was to make the ceilings appear as the sky to the spiders who were searching for a nesting spot. Through our various tests of different shades of blue, we found the most success in deterring spiders from nesting with the Sherwin Williams Minor Blue (SW6792). Our tests debunk the expert’s theory that lye in the paint was responsible for deterring spiders, as paints made today no longer contain lye. Instead, we propose that this shade of blue mimics the sky, tricking spiders into believing there’s no surface for their webs.

Since discovering that the Minor Blue from Sherwin Williams is successful with deterring spiders, we have recommended every fire station we do from now on to coat their apparatus bay garage ceilings that are often exposed to the elements with Minor Blue. We have done multiple fire stations with this coating since our discoveries and with a 100% success rate, we find that they no longer have a single person responsible for “sweeping” the ceiling.

Another candidate that benefits from this shade of blue is local government leisure services and parks and recreation departments. Structures like gazebos and shelters, often near wet areas where spiders seek dry nesting spots, have seen a significant reduction in spider webs on their ceilings after being coated with Minor Blue.

We also tested this theory with our local county government’s transfer station that is constantly filled with trash when we were hired to clean and coat the walls and ceilings. We all know that spiders thrive in a dirty environment and the transfer station is an excellent candidate for this shade of blue. Since coating their ceiling back in 2015, we haven’t heard a single complaint of spiders nesting their webs.

These examples demonstrate our recommended shade of Minor Blue can effectively prevent spiders nesting in various settings. While blogs often mention blue porch ceilings in residential areas, we’ve shown that this idea can scale successfully to larger structures. Our work disproves the initial opinions about lye in the paint and suggests that the color itself deters spiders by mimicking the sky.

These are just a handful of examples of Minor Blue paint working to prevent nesting and could be used in a lot more settings. Blogs that you can find easily on Google often only mention a shade of blue on the ceilings of residential porches and we have proven that we can scale up this idea to bigger structures. We have also demonstrated the necessary work to prove the experts’ initial opinions to be incorrect due to paint no longer being made with lye. Since it is no longer made with lye, we propose that there is a different explanation as to why blue ceilings deter spiders.

We believe that the reason why spiders are deterred from nesting when blue ceilings are present is because the ceiling mimics the color of the sky and tricks spiders into believing that there is no ceiling to nest. This is our theory, supported by our work, suggests a simple yet effective solution for spider infestations in various outdoor structures.