Discovered this growing inside our living room!

[SunMootStars]

We moved into this old house 3 months ago. It had been “cosmetically” decorated and we knew we’d be taking on a few problems but this discovery this evening really shocked me. It’s right along the front window but some bramble has literally grown up through woodwork and paintwork indoors!!! I’m terrified of what this will mean when we look into it and have to remedy it … work and cost! Anyone ever seen anything like this?

Looks like bamboo. It can pierce anything. I've been clearing an area of my garden of it. However, there would be clues of it growing outside.
It's really hard to get rid of. You'd have to dig up the roots or continuously cut back any new growth outside.

My husband thinks it could be a seed that been passed by a mouse or a rat and has grown. He is a former tree surgeon so used to dealing with japanese knot weed and now a pest control technician. Says it warrants further investigation but doesn't mean your house will fall down!

Has it definitely grown from outside? Could it just have been a seed dropped on the window that found a spot to grow?

Have you tried to gently pull it up?

Need a better picture.

Definitely need a less blurry picture.

In the past I had washed some seeds, food seeds not gardening seeds, down the sink, one got stuck and sprouted. Could it be something like that?

The look like seedling 🌱 leaves rather than proper plant leaves to me.

I'd be worrying about dry rot softening the timbers beneath to allow that to penetrate. Did you have a full structural survey?

I’ve got no helpful advice, but nature always amazes me at how resilient it can be!

My parents house is like this. Wisteria and brambles growing through cracks and crevices. It is purely through their neglect and lack of home maintenance. Very depressing, they cannot see it anymore.

Thank you for all the replies! I was very upset last night worrying about what it could be. Yes we have bought and survey didn’t show up anything. I’ll take a pic of the outside of the window frame but it’s only gravel and concrete…. No planting outside there. And just laurel bushes around the perimeter of the driveway. DH plucked it out and looks like he got the root and it’s just a seedling. But i definitely will have it looked into.

last night i was worried id wake up to jack and the beanstalk in my living room!!

Get the app that identifies plants- its called picture this and it's free.

All I could think of when I saw this was 'life always finds a way!'

Take a pic and put it on ChatGPT, see what it says.

@SunMootStars are you able to lift up any part of the floor to see if there are vines of any kind growing? can you look carefully at all your neighbours' gardens??? are the slabs outside a relatively new installation???

That sounds really good.
Fingers crossed, it's just a stray seed that got into the hole. If the previous owners used the bay for growing plants then it's quite easily done.
I would just keep an eye on it but it sounds like a one off. Maybe put some caulk into the hole (I think that's the stuff they use around windows).

Yes I have the app PictureThis but DH plucked it out before I could get to it again! Honestly, my instinct was it’s a bramble that has found a crack. Fingers crossed that’s all it is.
here are the pics outside …. Nothing that would give any cause for concern.

The thing that would worry me is the way it’s pushed through the woodwork. It doesn’t look like it’s just a seed that has landed in a crack and grown. It must be quite a strong plant to do the damage and I wonder if it has been an ongoing problem there before you bought the house. The hole looks like there has been something bigger growing there previously, it doesn’t look like that seedling has done the original damage.

Looking at the outside of the house there are markings to the left bottom of the window that look like something may have once grown up it. We had vines starting to climb our outside walls and when we pulled them off they made similar marks.

Yes I see the marks, and that makes sense that there was something growing up there once. We had to pull a lot of brambles up from the ground in front when we moved in… I’m not sure who to call, a garden maintenance or construction firm!!!

I personally would take a watch and wait approach. See if it happens again. If it does I would call a builder because there must be a gap somewhere that the vines are finding there way in through.

Yes I think that’s the right approach for now. Thank you!

As it was a rooted seedling I'd suspect that whoever prepped for painting didn't actually prep and a seed there has sprouted. Did the previous owners have lots of houseplants? Or maybe something blew in.