ivy on house?

corban

i'm in the process of building a new house and i was planning on letting ivy grow up the walls on the outside of the house. so i was wondering if anyone had experience of this and is there any drawbacks/problems? any input at all would be great

the GALL

watch out for the spiders

baguio

You'll probably get mixed feedback on this. Some people claim it causes damage to wall. Others believe that there wont be any damage if the wall/plaster is 100% ok in the first place.
Only other thing is to make sure it doesnt get out of control. Don't let it get in under the eaves - as then it WILL cause damage for sure.

Other than that, I will be doing the same with various creepers on each walls of my (recently built) gaff..

bmaxi

Just remember, ivy is much easier to plant than to get rid of.

baguio

bmaxi wrote:

Just remember, ivy is much easier to plant than to get rid of.

Yes, there would be some work involved. Then again, theres a trade off in not having to paint! How much time does it take to paint and what does that cost.
Main point is to decide on what you want. Either you want it up there with a view to having it up there longterm - and maintaining it i.e trimming it back at the eaves, etc.

So much time, effort and resources have gone into building houses in recent times - but theres little effort put into softening the look off that concrete box. We should really take a leaf (unintentional pun) out of the book of our neighbours across the irish sea.

OP - stick with your plan. Just keep it in check. Perhaps consider going with Hedera Helix 'Goldheart'.

corban

thanks very much any more advice would be gratefully appreciated like should i get a professional to plant it or is it easy enough to do yourself?

crosstownk

I moved into a house that had ivy all over the back wall. I liked the look of it so I left it there - for a few weeks. Then I noticed an inordinate amount of spiders - I could live with that as they catch flies and I hate flies a lot more than spiders

But seriously, the ivy had messed with my soffits and roof tiles - it had gotten in and lifted tiles and also caused in excessive dampness in one corner.

So I removed it. I located the root, got my axe and chopped it. Then I waited a good few weeks and the ivy withered. I got up on a ladder and pulled it all down. I composted what I could and brought the rest to the local green waste centre. All done in a day.

Don't get me wrong, I like ivy. I have quite a lot of it on the garden walls. But I just don't think it's practical on the walls of the house - even if it does look well. If you do go for it, be sure to maintain it correctly and keep it away from anywhere it can do damage. If you don't have one already, buy yourself a decent extendable ladder that will easily reach the eaves.

That's my 2c but as posted before, you'll get mixed feedback.

baguio

crosstownk wrote: »

the ivy had messed with my soffits and roof tiles

This is Guaranteed - if not maintained. All thats required is an annual trim back.

mackey087

as already stated above you should watch the eve of the house, facia and sofit, tiles/slates and air vents etc. if the plastering is done right, proper ratio and waterprofer you should not have any damp. before you plant just walk around and tap walls if you hear a hollow sound your already in trouble. if you do go for the ivy and eventually get fed up of it use salt or sulphate of iron to kill off the ivy.

crosstownk

I should state that my house is almost 50 years old - so is probably less resistant to damp.

corban

thanks for the advice lads

mackey087

if the house is old you could try and use a concrete sealer. any hardware store can help you out with this. if your planting the ivy try can 27% or 18-6-12 they are fertilisers from farmers co-op's, but ask how much to use. to much and it will dry out the ivy. if your worried about the walls you could try and fix mesh to the walls first-might be to much bother?

The Sweeper

Corban, would you try a different creeper? Is it coverage you're looking for, or do you specifically like Ivy? If you're just after coverage, does it have to be evergreen?

corban

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Corban, would you try a different creeper? Is it coverage you're looking for, or do you specifically like Ivy? If you're just after coverage, does it have to be evergreen?

i would try any creeper, its coverage i'm looking for but i would prefer if it was evergreen.
any suggestions?

Sonnenblumen

Climbers are rarely troublefree and as has been mentioned require regular checking to keep healthy and controlled.

Mortar joints are very vunerable to drying out and crumbling due to the invasive nature of some climbers. And of course climbers can cause endless trouble if they breach soffit/fascia/roof spaces etc

Several options on evergreens but one worth a mention is Cissus Striata.

IMO not a good idea.

corban

thanks for the advice and suggestions, i'm a bit of a novice so what do u mean by IMO?

Sonnenblumen

Sorry, just short for In My Opinion.

Cheers

The Sweeper

There's another thread on the forum on climbing plants (seems to be an area of interest so I may stickyfy things after merging them) that provides a number of options for climbing plants.

I personally wouldn't plant a climbing plant and train it up the wall of my house, as people have said, because they are invasive. I do appreciate the sentiment though.

There are a few options for breaking up the monotony of a brick wall and it doesn't have to be covering the whole wall with a creeper. You could screw a trellis to the wall and train something across the trellis, then keep it to that trellis. (I like chinese star jasmine. Evergreen, white flowers, nice scent.) You might also look at using a few different shrubs of different heights.

You could also use a climbing rose on a trellis - again they have to be pruned, but they respond well to pruning and they have really beautiful flowers.

Personally I like evergreen plants with interesting foliage, so I'd probably use one trellis and then mix and match plants with lime green, dark green and red to burgundy foliage. If they grow to different heights, all the better. The best thing to do is wander around a well-stocked garden centre and see what catches your eye, then read the labels on care and soil requirements and levels of light and so on.

If you want something that grows quickly, investigate a cool climate bamboo (clumping, not running - one stays put, the other sends runners out all over the place and you'll see it popping up everywhere). Some of them can get really tall very quickly, providing pleasing screening foliage in a relatively short time and they have beautiful foliage.