extensive ivy on property

[greyvix]

Does anyone have experience of removing ivy? Would there be less damage to masonry and pointing if it is alive rather than dead when removed?

I had ivy on the house, took it down as it was covered in these ting black bugs that then started to cover the front door - yuck.

I don't ivy damages the wall, only if the wall is not good i.e. has cracks then english ivy will grow into those cracks and cause issues.

Ivy will be in the mortar and will enter if allowed. I killed ours and it did leave brown remnants when I pulled it off. Hard to do live though! am lazy

I have read mixed advice about whether to kill it first.

Alive better than dead IMHO (spent hours pulling it off a wall today). Dead leaves a mark, alive pulls off much more easily.

I certainly do. Cut off all the stems near ground level and dab liquid glyphosate on the stumps. While that's killing the roots, which may take a couple of weeks, cut the clinging parts into manageable sizes with shears or secateurs and pull away what's loose. Not much of it will have stuck its fingers into the wall, removing which is the part that will take time. I find it comes off easier when it is dead.

Until you have cut away the loose stuff you can't see or get at what's gripping the wall.

In time, any dead bits that you can't reach will rot and weather away and fall off.

We took it off the back of our house last year (3foot deep) when we moved in.
Do as PigletJohn says but after you've dabbed the Glyphosate on cover with plastic bags to avoid it being washed off. We took most of it off when it was dead. It's a messy horrible job but it's easier than fixing the damage ivy can cause to the mortor.
Keep checking the roots to make sure there isn't any re growth. Keep treating until completely dead - it might take a while but it's worth it.

Thank you for the advice. I took off a small bit of dead ivy last year and it was very tricky, as it just kept breaking off. The trick must be kill it, but remove it while still green.