Growing Ivy on house walls

elisabethoelmann

Dear all, I want to ask for some help please: I have an ivy growing on the northern wall of my house. Do I need to destroy it?!? Recently I have seen the cover of the countryfile magazine from June this year and there was a house completely covered with ivy, which looked beautiful!! Do you have some advise for me please?
Many thanks,
Elisabeth

K67

Only a problem if your brickwork is in poor shape with mortar missing that's supposing you have brickwork. Wouldn't recommend it on render. Just keep it clear of the gutters if it reaches them and away from window frames.
Only drawback for me is you seem to get more creepy crawlies in the house!

Fire

Some people recommend you have no plants on the walls of your house, as it does the brick work, roof, mortar and tiling no favours. It also makes it harder to see if you have any problems beginning, with damp etc. Ivy is such a pain to get off once it has started growing, and leaves such marks, that I don't let it start.

Dovefromabove

This house had previously had ivy growing up the walls before we bought it.  Although early on the owners had kept it clipped and away from the roof, but as they'd aged they'd been unable to see to it and for one reason or another didn't employ anyone to do it for them. 

When the next person bought the house the ivy had brought down the drainpipes and guttering, penetrated the roof space and damaged the windows and the previous owner spent a lot of money repairing/restoring it. 

There is no ivy on the house now but there are still the remains of the brown adventitious roots on the brickwork ... we've been told to leave them to decompose and fall off over time as removing them could damage the brickwork.