In article , Big Bill
writes
Some say when ivy starts getting invasive, in our case invading the
loft by lifting the tiles, it should be chopped at the roots and
killed. Others say that with a 200 year old property like ours, it
should be left alone as it's probably got in so many cracks etc. that
it's contributing in a big way towards keeping the house standing.
Myself, I'd be inclined to leave the ivy to grow along the walls but
cut it back periodically so it stops invading the loft space.
Any thoughts or experiences on the subject please? This is all new to
me. I looked on the gardening forums but there's so many of them I
simply didn't know where to ask.

Houses built before the war are likely to be lime mortar, as cement was
too expensive for normal use, and ivy will penetrate the mortar and
loosen the bricks. I nearly got killed pulling ivy off our garden wall,
about thirty linear feet of wall collapsed when I pulled a strand off
one end and, had I not been nimble on my feet, would have been all over
me.

Jon

--
John Rouse