Giant House Spider? Victoria BC Canada

Hi new user here. Stumbled across this board looking for information on spiders.

I live in basement suite which I keep very clean. The house itself is in very good condition. All carpeted, no damage, bright coloured, etc. For the past month or two, I have been noticing a certain kind of spider enter my house. The problem is, I don't know where it comes from and I don't know what kind it is. Everyday for the past 2 months, I see at least ONE a night. I only see them come out at night. I go to bed between 10PM and 3AM. I will always find one.

I either see them...

- In the small hallway which connects my bedroom to the bathroom, to the main rooms.
- In the computer room which is the first room coming out from that small hallway. They usually head towards the living room.
- Sometimes they just stay in the corners of that small hallway.
- Found one on the corner of my bed last night, second one I have seen in my room.

My only guess is that they are coming from the closest in the small hallway. The closest is under the staircase, so I am not sure if there are holes in there and they get into the house somehow.

I was told they are called the Giant House Spider. Others have told me that they could also be the "deadly" hobo spider or the west coast version of the recluse. I have no problems with spiders outside or larger spiders like tarantula pets. I however, do not like these at all. They don't look very nice and I don't like them near my bed or anything. They are all about the same size and move very fast. I usually wait till they stop in a corner and swat them with a magazine.

I did not take this picture myself, it's from google. It however, is the closest thing I could find to what mine is. I googled "hobo spider or giant house spider."

Is there an effective way to get rid of these pests?

Positively identifying spiders in this genus (Tegenaria) can be quite difficult; nearly impossible without examining them under magnification - see http://tinyurl.com/cmphed for details. These spiders and wolf spiders (family Lycosidae) often enter buildings while searching for prey, and short of hermetically sealing your house, it is nearly impossible to exclude them completely. Just be sure that all doors and windows can close tightly, remove as much clutter as possible from storage areas (especially basements/crawl spaces), and deal with the occasional 'visitor' by swatting, vacuuming, or a short burst of an aerosol spray pesticide.

Thanks for your help, that is a great link.

What do you think of those "glue traps." Are those effective? Maybe buy one and place it near my bed or one in my hallway?

Not a guaranteed method of control, but probably wouldn't hurt. No telling what you might catch in them...