Ivy damaging back wall of house

[Gordanus]

Ivy has been growing up our extension back wall from the garden that backs onto ours - our extension goes down to the end of our garden. Can I chop it away from our wall? It's inside our limits, as in the back garden wall remains in place. I don't know whether the concrete of the extension is below par or whether the ivy caused the damage, but when I pull some of the suckers away, pebble-sized lumps of concrete come away too. The extension is about 5 years old.

It'll leave them with a blank wall to look at unfortunately. Should I talk to them about maybe planting something less damaging?

 

[asdfg]

if the extension is in your garden and the ivy is comeing from there garden and causing damage to your property you need to speak to them about it and give them a chance to recetify the problem.If they dont do it you are within your rights to get a solicitor to write to them about it saying any damage to your property will be billed to them

 

[Gordanus]

thanks for that. Will do.

 

[mathepac]

It is not true to say that ivy damages modern walls - ivy did damage old walls built using lime mortar / plaster which had higher levels of moisture. The ivy would follow the lime mortar through the walls, causing cracks.

As you've discovered, removing living ivy can damage walls; the trick is to first chop off the ivy from its main root system at ground-level then let it die off (foliage and shoots will turn brown) then remove it from the wall.

If chunks of plaster are coming away where the ivy is attached to 5 year old wall then the problem is the wall, IMHO.

 

[Gordanus]

If chunks of plaster are coming away where the ivy is attached to 5 year old wall then the problem is the wall, IMHO.

It's not plaster, it's concrete; but that's what I was afraid of. Unfortunately, until I get rid of more of the ivy, I can't actually see what's going on!
Thanks all.