The Plant That May Put Your Homeowner's Insurance At Risk And Why

When it comes to homeowner's insurance, you might think the only impactful plant would be a large tree in hurricane or tornado-prone areas. Homeowner's insurance companies are becoming increasingly concerned — enough to cancel coverage — with one plant, and it's not the century-old oak tree in your yard. It's ivy, a plant that has historically been used to beautify homes but now serves as an obstacle to procuring insurance.

Ivy growing on your home can make or break whether your home can be insured and determine how high your premium will be. Though it is beautiful, ivy is high-maintenance and brings with it a host of problems, which include issues with your insurance company, as the plant's precocious tendrils can damage the exterior of your home. Even if you are able to establish insurance, the company may threaten to withdraw coverage if the ivy is not removed within a certain amount of time. Homeowners, especially those who have had ivy on their home for decades, might feel blindsided by a sudden letter in the mail about their leafy green exterior. Despite the protests from your insurance company, you may be loath to part with the romantic, timeless aesthetic of ivy, especially if you've worked hard to grow that ivy up the walls of your home. Unfortunately, insurance companies do have good reasons for their ivy aversion.

Despite its beauty, ivy can be a detriment to your home, which makes it an unappealing feature in the eyes of an insurance company. Without regular maintenance, a climbing plant like ivy will grow into your gutters and block them, leading to water leaks inside your home. Ivy is often grown over brick walls, but it can trap moisture against them, causing the mortar between bricks to degrade and crumble. It can also pull stucco away from the house and worm its way into tiny cracks and beneath siding, emerging either in your home or inside your walls. Ivy allowed to grow over a roof will lift roof tiles, leaving your home vulnerable to water damage during rain.

Whether or not ivy is an immediate danger to your home's structural integrity is often determined by your climate, which may also inform how your insurance company approaches the issue. Humid climates are more prone to water damage, making insurance companies extra vigilant about liabilities, but they might be more willing to let ivy slide in a drier climate. The type of ivy can also influence an insurance company's decision, so you should reconsider growing the popular English ivy up your walls, even though it is often recommended as an easy plant to care for. Aggressive climbing plants like English ivy are more of a danger to your home than native vines like Virginia creeper, which is often recommended as an English ivy alternative.

While it might decrease the romantic aesthetic of your home's exterior, it's probably best to acquiesce to the insurance company and remove the ivy. If you have a large home or one particularly smothered in ivy, this might seem like an impossible task, but if you take it slow, you can remove all the tendrils from your home. You'll need to search around the base of your home and locate the source stems, which you'll snip with garden clippers. To avoid damaging the exterior of your home, you should wait for the ivy to die off naturally, making it easier to disentangle from your home. Be gentle when pulling the vines away from your house and dig up the roots to keep the ivy from regrowing.

If you really don't want to part with your ivy and the insurance company isn't budging, you can switch insurance companies. This is almost as arduous as removing the ivy, but it will allow you to keep a feature that beautifies your home. Despite the hassle, switching companies may be worth it for you and can even help decrease your homeowner's insurance payments.