Removing ivy from house wall

pineapple · 13 June 2017 at 10:20AM

I recently moved to an old stone cottage with a smooth painted render over the external walls. At first I thought the English ivy growing up the front wall was quite cute. Then I realised it was becoming rampant. Plus it was clinging on to the render with a vice like grip. I cut the stems at the base but it continued to look 'live'. So I pulled away the stems and the greenery (without too much damage) but in parts there is is still a tracery of embedded brown tendrils where it used to be. Not sure I will be able to remove completely without damaging the render. Do these need an application of SBK or similar to kill off completely? Or can I just paint over? Cheers.

27cool · 13 June 2017 at 10:58AM

I've just spend several hours removing ivy, both dead and alive. It's an absolute nightmare to get it all off. I don't think that the embedded brown tendrils will ever come out. A stiff brush seems to help a bit. I went down the garden to look and it's ok from a distance. Not helped by the fact that the bricks have an extremely rough texture. I think I am going to have to live with it as it is now.

Aylesbury_Duck · 13 June 2017 at 11:02AM

As above, in the house I moved into, once I'd pulled all the ivy off, I used a lot of elbow grease and a wire brush, but even that didn't shift it all. Over time, weather has reduced the amount of material left behind.

missile · 13 June 2017 at 11:14AM

I planted a clematis after removing ivy. Looks much nicer and hides the detritus left by the ivy.

pineapple · 13 June 2017 at 11:46AM

Thanks folks. I'm not too bothered about the appearance. The exterior is rough plastered and painted and I can easily mask any blemishes. I am more concerned that the residue might continue to grow and dig into the plaster.

Grenage · 13 June 2017 at 1:26PM

If you cut the stems at ground level, there will be no ongoing growth; Ivy is hardcore, but it's not that hardcore.

pineapple · 13 June 2017 at 2:30PM

Grenage wrote: »

If you cut the stems at ground level, there will be no ongoing growth; Ivy is hardcore, but it's not that hardcore.

Probably I'm worrying unnecessarily then. But someone told me that it was a common mistake to think that cutting the plant at the base would cause it to die off naturally. He said that the remaining plant would try to cling onto life, get moisture from wherever and damage the mortar in the process. So that was when I decided to prise off the stems and leaves. Except there are still some little brown tendrils/suckers (don't know what you call them) embedded in the wall.

Biggles · 13 June 2017 at 4:58PM

pineapple wrote: »

But someone told me that it was a common mistake to think that cutting the plant at the base would cause it to die off naturally. He said that the remaining plant would try to cling onto life, get moisture from wherever and damage the mortar in the process.

No. It will die and cause no further damage. You said it was brown; brown=dead green=alive. Just check each year and cut any new growth.

I_have_spoken · 13 June 2017 at 8:29PM

Bead blasting

Geoff1963 · 13 June 2017 at 10:09PM

If you just cut ivy, and the ends touch, it will rejoin, so you have to cut out a section. I found the best way was to pull it off while it was still alive, so it was flexible ; once dead, it's just like wood.

Davesnave · 14 June 2017 at 9:12AM

Ugly, but best to leave for a long time till it looks brown and then it comes away more easily.

I can confirm that ivy growing on oaks several hundred years old and thicker than a man's arm at the base don't regenerate once chain-sawed through.

The lower part should be dug out, or the cut surface painted with SBK brushwood killer.

Removing ivy from house wall

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free