Be 100% sure is regular ivy, too -- I pulled a bunch of it off my MILs house only to discover some of it was POISON ivy.

Not. Fun.

Anonymous wrote:cut it off about 2 feet from the bottom. Put all the vines in a container with round up. Spray the chimney and all plants on the ground with round up.

You don't need to spray round up on things you've already removed and put in a container. After you've cut off the vines, DO put roundup on the remaining stumps to prevent re-sprouting. Keep a very close eye on your yard and garden for ivy resprouting and remove it immediately. If your large stumps of ivy resprout, remove the sprouts and spray with roundup again. You could try to dig out the ivy stumps, but it sounds like they're probably huge.

this looks like it might be useful
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/invasivetutorial/English_Ivy_M_C.htm

Anonymous wrote:It takes more than a week; give it a season (preferably a year) to die and detach from the house. Otherwise you are going to be leaving little sucker bits all over the brick. But otherwise, yes, this is the way to go.

You should also cut more than a foot, along the lines of 3-4 feet or the shoots on the ground will easily reach the parts on the house and you'll have to start over. Once the vines are dead, any landscaping or general contracting company should be willing to come and go up on a ladder to get the dead vines down.

Anonymous wrote:

ThatSmileyFaceGuy wrote:Trimming it back is one thing but the roots have probably invaded the brick by now. You need a landscaper and then someone to reface your brick

wrong

take a saw, cut the root about a foot off the ground a week later the ivy on the hosue will be dead, pull it down, it will come down easy. then dig out the roots and you are done.

We did this to our small brick rowhouse in Georgetown. It came off fairly easily. The good thing was that it took a lot of the paint...so were able to 'expose' the brick on the front of the house. I really didn't want the brick painted.

cut it off about 2 feet from the bottom. Put all the vines in a container with round up. Spray the chimney and all plants on the ground with round up.

While every case is different. This is what my parents had to do because the climbing roots damaged the bricks and the mortar

granted their ivy had been on the house for over 100 years

Anonymous wrote:

ThatSmileyFaceGuy wrote:Trimming it back is one thing but the roots have probably invaded the brick by now. You need a landscaper and then someone to reface your brick

wrong

take a saw, cut the root about a foot off the ground a week later the ivy on the hosue will be dead, pull it down, it will come down easy. then dig out the roots and you are done.

Everything I've read said that it's easier to pull off alive. Here's an article-

http://www.dannylipford.com/how-to-remove-ivy-from-walls/

It takes more than a week; give it a season (preferably a year) to die and detach from the house. Otherwise you are going to be leaving little sucker bits all over the brick. But otherwise, yes, this is the way to go.

Anonymous wrote:

ThatSmileyFaceGuy wrote:Trimming it back is one thing but the roots have probably invaded the brick by now. You need a landscaper and then someone to reface your brick

wrong

take a saw, cut the root about a foot off the ground a week later the ivy on the hosue will be dead, pull it down, it will come down easy. then dig out the roots and you are done.

OP here - THANK YOU!! I sooo hope you are right...lol!

ThatSmileyFaceGuy wrote:Trimming it back is one thing but the roots have probably invaded the brick by now. You need a landscaper and then someone to reface your brick

wrong

take a saw, cut the root about a foot off the ground a week later the ivy on the hosue will be dead, pull it down, it will come down easy. then dig out the roots and you are done.

ThatSmileyFaceGuy wrote:Trimming it back is one thing but the roots have probably invaded the brick by now. You need a landscaper and then someone to reface your brick

OP here, this is just a painful post to read, but thank you for the advice.

Trimming it back is one thing but the roots have probably invaded the brick by now. You need a landscaper and then someone to reface your brick

Anonymous wrote:OP, how I hope that you are my neighbor! Whatever you need to do to get that ivy off, please do!

OMG - where do you live?!

OP, how I hope that you are my neighbor! Whatever you need to do to get that ivy off, please do!

Ok so at first I thought it was quaint and now it's overrun the house. And the roots are too thick to cut with any yard tool we have. Who do I call to remove it - it extends all the way up to the chimney...a landscaping company?! A handyman? Any recommendations for this type of work?