# Outdoor exterior wall - what to do with ivy remnants embedded into old stucco exterio



## flowerchick (Oct 24, 2011)

Below is a photo of the north side of my free-standing garage before I had all off the ivy removed. I had the ivy removed in an attempt to clean up the backyard and reduce my monthly landscaping costs. 


I'll post a picture of the exterior wall when daylight arrives tomorrow, but what appears now are bits and pieces of dried ivy stems, leaves, embedded into the nooks, crevices, crannies of the stucco sided from the last 60+. Add to this some of the stucco siding has fallen away and now I'm wondering if perhaps the exterior simply needs a new stucco job to resolve this issue. 

Overall the stucco siding is actually in good shape so a couple of stucco repairs might probably suffice, but the ivy mess still remain and I'm not sure how to resolve this -- it's unsightly to me and needs a good cleanup. A local handyman I've been using suggested a sandblasting but that just may be a "makework" job for him I suspect, and I also suppose that might be a bit much on this exterior surface given the 60+ year old age of the stucco siding. 


*Any suggestions on how to get this exterior looking good given the conditions I've outlined?* I was planning on repainting the house at some point but my goal right now would be to try to clean up the mess left from the ivy now embedded into the stucco. I have access to cheap day laborers in our area, so there's a lot of elbow grease in our neighborhood if that's what this job calls for.

Thanks for your suggestions...

BTW, I plan on putting flowers (or perhaps roses) into the area where the ivy was growing... now wouldn't that be nicer and easier to maintain?!


FlowerChick


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## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

We regularly pull Ivy off our brick house. All the little sucker/sticker things are all over the brick & mortar, but they eventually disintegrate & disappear. 

You _might_ be able to successfully "power wash" some of them off, but definitely do not sandblast it. Far too abrasive, especially considering that some of the stucco is already cracked and/or falling off.

My first thought would be to repair the stucco, and paint the side of the garage.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

As the good Dr, says, maybe power wash MIGHT help. I run across this situation a couple times a year and for the most part it just takes time( lots of it, years of it)


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## flowerchick (Oct 24, 2011)

Ah, yes, powerwashing or a pressure wash -- this I've heard of, isn't there some kind of "AS SEEN ON TV" tool for DIY' ers available for purchase somewhere? I found one here.
https://www.buywaterjet.com/?s_kwcid=TC%7C6289%7Cas%20seen%20on%20TV%20power%20washer%7C%7CSM%7Ce%7C7215320179&gclid=COfk3ajtjawCFQtthwodanFprQ

I'd probably just go to Home Depot to buy such a tool given their easy return policy in case I had any issues. 

Would you recommend some type of scrubber or brush (what type of bristols might be recommended?) to help remove the stubborn twigs after powerwashing and softening up the dried plant material or perhaps after a rainy day or a foggy damp morning? 

Thanks guys, looks like were making headway here and the sun is not even up yet, I appreciate it very much. 

FlowerChick


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

You can rent them at any rental place but let me tell you now( as I was trying to before) for the most part NOTHING is going to work well:no:

Sandblasting would work but as posted it is very , very abrasive.


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## flowerchick (Oct 24, 2011)

Chrism, 

Thanks for your post. 

So how did you end up remedying the situation? As you can see from the posted photo there's a lot I've got to deal with here. Would it make sense to simply remove stucco siding, restuccco and paint? The ivy really is primarily issue only on the north side of garage wall.

Thanks! 

FlowerChick


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