The west brick wall on my house becomes a huge heatsink in summer
afternoons. Once the sun comes over the house, that wall gets full
sun until the great ball of fire goes below the horizon. No trees or
shade or anything to block it. So the wall continues to be hot to the
touch well into the middle of the night. That side of the house does
stay warmer than the rest.

The house is only a year old so it's not time for major rennovations
and additional insulation. But i thought that planting some sort of
leafy vine to cover that wall would cut down on the heat penetrating
into the bricks. I'm in Ontario Canada (zone 5). The most
suggested vines at local nurseries are virginia creeper and boston
ivy. I was justa bout to plan a couple of these along the back wall
of my house but now i'm not too sure after reading some of the vine
eradication posts.

1. Do these vines ruin brick walls? They're supposed to cement
themselves naturally to the wall. Does this damage the wall or not?
I've heard conflicting opinions.

2. Are these vines difficult to control? I naievely assumed that the
vines would have only one entry into the ground (the original plant)
and all i would have to deal with is the climbing vines. I never
considered underground offshoots. Will it spread by roots or only the
climbers?

3. I still think this is a good way to control the sun penetrating
into the brick. But is there anything else i should be aware of
before planting these vines?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Kevin