"Doug Lassiter" wrote in message
ps.com...
Jonny wrote:
I am not a technical savvy person in the foliage world. However, I did
see
a few things when I went through a home inspection course in Dallas area,
some schoolhouse, some real home inspections. Any kind of vegetative
canopy
that clings to any kind of wooden structure will tend to invervene in
that
structure. Additionally, water rot and mildew will take over, hidden
from
your eyes by such foliage. And, will eventually eat away at all that it
touches. If your fascia, fascia trim, soffit, or roof deck underlayment
is
wooden, take heed. Cannot overemphasize, you're playing with needless
home
repair due to owner oversight.

Natural shade is a good thing for your house, actual foliage covering is
not
recommended.



Thanks. These are astute comments.

Correct about heat transfer through brick. Just because they stay hot
doesn't mean they are effective heat sources. In fact, it may mean that
they aren't. But the heat transfer from them is almost certainly
radiative and convective, not conductive, so those metal straps are
probably not relevant.

Also true about attics. I've got R=30 in mine, and spinners and a ridge
vent as well, but even with the latter I see scarily high temps there.
White brick? Yeah, that would help a lot with the heat buildup, but ...
ugh.

I would certainly rather have shade from a tree, but I'm about ten
years away from having that right now! I am curious about possible long
term damage to brick or mortar from ivy though. No question that one
needs to keep it off of wood. In that context, one gardening question
would be how much work would something like Boston Ivy require to keep
it under control? With pretty full sun, am I likely to be hacking at it
all summer to keep it from invading my attic?


Don't see any problem with foliage such as ivy on brick itself. It will
discolor the brick. If you ever wack the ivy down, stand by with a pressure
washer. More than once may be needed. Some mildew stains in the mortar may
never come out without replacing the mortar.

Most of the people we talked to were aware of potential problems. They
simply got lazy after awhile, ignored it.
--
Jonny