How to Remove Vines from Your Home

Vines are a beautiful type of plant. There are several varieties of vines, ranging from your typical indoor houseplant to the type that grow on the outside of your home. When your home has vines growing on it rather than in it you may have a vine problem.

When we first moved into our stone home the back side and about six feet of the roof were covered in vines. Beautiful as the vines were the damage they caused was extensive. From the looks of it they had been there for years. Stone and brick homes are most likely to have vines growing on them, but I have seen homes made of wood which also have vine problems.

In our case we had a lot of vines to deal with. However, if you catch them early you will not. The more years they are allowed to grow for the larger of an area they can cover, the more damage they'll do and the harder it will be to remove them.

When vines grow on the outside of a home they actually adhere to the home. Vines have very short roots that somehow superglue themselves to whatever it is they are growing on. The very tips of the roots can actually penetrate the outer walls of your home. Vines don't need much to live on. Water seems to be sufficient. If the vines are left on the home they will damage the area they cover not only by growing into it but also by trapping moisture.

Vines are not easy to kill. They are resistant to most weed killers and can survive even the coldest of temperatures. The first step to ridding your home of vines is to remove them by hand.

If you only have a small section of vines you are in luck. Pulling them off is the first step to ridding your home of them. All you'll need is a good pair of gloves and some free time. Go outside and begin ripping them down.

Once you have removed as many of the vines as you can by hand you're almost done. The next step is to collect a sample of the vine. Tear off a strip of the vine and bring it to your local Agway, or home improvement store. There are so many types of vines that attach themselves to homes that a sample is needed when choosing the right vine killer. Not all vine killers work on all vines. Vines are very resistant plants.

Once you have given to home improvement store the sample of the vine they will be able to guide you to the right vine killer for you. Most are sprayed on. The vine killer will penetrate the vine and it's root, killing it. Once the remainder of the vines on your home are dead you will be able to remove them. Your home will be vine free once again. Thanks for reading and take care!