News Alert! Plants damage homes! Keeping the organic stuff away from your house!
Yes, this guy looks proud of his tree that is consuming his house for lunch! But is his house proud to have a parasite? While ivy covered homes look charming and beautiful trees with flowing branches provide nice shade and cover, they both are potential problem makers.
Ivy on a well constructed masonry wall may be OK for at least a while. But, when it’s covering your home – there is no way to see what is going on behind it when it comes to the summer months. It’s organic and requires water to survive. So as a result, rainwater will collect amongst the leaves and roots. Ivy will spread, tree branches will grow and it’ll all be close to the systems we build to “shed” water away from us. Cracks may enlarge and be pulled apart and bugs will find a nice new highway to the warm/cool portions of your house. Tree branches may inevitably fall during a storm and damage your gutters, roof and worse… Wood siding, brick and mortar and the such are all nice targets for growing ivy and organic matter.
So do yourself a favor! Don’t let your landscaping eat your house. Trim those branches back at least 10′-0″ from your house. Plant flowers and bushes at least 18″ from your foundation walls. Ivy? Looks nice on castles but maybe not ideal for your home! Keep the organic stuff away from house unless it’s chopped up in a salad and being served for dinner and not the other way around! Nom nom nom.