Overgrown Bush Removal in St Albans

• WorkOvergrown bush removal
• AreaSt Albans
• PropertyHouse, side wall
• PositionSide of the house, beside the driveway

This job was an overgrown bush on the side of a house in St Albans. Over the years the growth had spread across the whole of the side wall, up to the guttering and around the base of the chimney stack, so that very little of the wall could be seen at all.

We cut the growth back and took it off the wall, and cleared the waste when we finished. The after photograph shows the wall as it now stands: the white render, the brick corner, the gutter and downpipe, the window and the chimney are all visible again.

What the job involved

• Cutting back the overgrown bush and climbing growth covering the side wall
• Taking the growth off the wall, including the higher sections up by the roofline
• Clearing the stems and waste from beside the house
• Leaving the wall, gutter and downpipe open to view and to inspect

Why growth on a house wall should not be left

A dense plant against a wall holds moisture against the surface, hides the condition of the render and brickwork, and can work its way into gutters and under the edge of the roof. When it reaches the roofline, it becomes harder and more expensive to deal with each year. Once it is cleared you can see the wall properly again, check the gutter and downpipe, and decide what, if anything, needs repairing.

On a rendered wall, some fine stems and marks can be left behind after thick growth has been taken off, as you can see on the wall in the after photograph. It is worth knowing about before you start, and it is why we like to look at the wall first.

Overgrown planting around houses in St Albans

Plenty of older St Albans houses have large shrubs and climbers that have been left for years beside the house. If you would like to clear a whole bed, border or garden rather than a single wall, see our page on overgrown garden clearance. If the growth on your wall is ivy, we also have a page on ivy removal from walls. Our guide on what happens to garden waste after a clearance explains how the waste is dealt with.