Ivy. A problem new to me, New build

Yes ivy does damage walls, I learnt a lot from my husband who was a structural engineer. It creeps into spaces and the thickening roots and stems widen those spaces. Anyway my new garden is tiny and I would rather grow something I want.

I have bought some special brushwood killer and will persist with that and will also be using ground cover membrane. I know I will have to keep at it, I think the root spread is too much to find and dig out. It will be a challenge and will be one of the first things I will tackle when I complete on the house purchase next week.

Yes, I have heard that twaddle about ivy not damaging walls. I can asure you it is not true.

I had to clear the back of a brick built garden shed to get it repointed. The bottom 2 foot mass took an inch off all the bricks and they had to be replaced.

The reason the wall needed repairing was because of the damage ivy roots had done to the lime mortar so that the roots got right in and prized out the bricks.

Do not believe them. Ivy is pernicious and damaging and it cost us hundreds of £ to get the wall repointed and the damaged bricks replaced.

The Woodland Trust have recently been and chopped the ivy from the trees in their wood around my home. It does kill the trees.

We have had a terrible problem with ivy. Initially it was nice to look at, but then started climbing trees and spreading out to the land behind us, choking everything in its path. It is a marathon job, trying to keep on top of it.
We have now resorted to special ivy weedkiller, which seems to be working.

I HATE ivy it’s the bane of my life, well apart from cats and i m forever pulling it out it grows faster than the speed of light and is up my walls overnight (slight exaggeration) the bottom stem is the size of my wrist I ve got rid of three quarters and now grab it the minute it shows it’s ugly head

Wrens love to nest in ivy.Like a lot of birds their numbers are declining.For that reason I leave it alone in certain places along our big fence,pulling some back higher up occasionally so it doesn't become top heavy.But then I do like the look of it,and it's some more greenery in winter.

We have some ivy on our walls, but DH won’t have it on fences ( it pulls them down eventually.)
There is no harm in having ivy on brickwork but if it dies and you pull it off, it can pull off the mortar too.
If you like the ivy on the wall/walls just trim it back twice a year to keep it within bounds.

Can always remember seeing a programme on TV about ivy....it decided that actually it does not really do any lasting damage to walls and can be left. When it totally surrounds a tree that's a bit different, as some intervention might be needed if it looks like its going to suffocate it. Personably I love ivy and have been happy watching it establishing itself on the walls on our previous house. We have ivy growing in the woods near this new house but none in the garden as yet.