Wisteria roots through the foundations

[erikwoolf]

When we bought the house we found the roots of a plant coming through the floorboards. They looked dead and I posted some photos here Thread 'Subfloor flora...' https://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/threads/subfloor-flora.17770/

We escavated the back garden this week and found routes from the neighbours wisteria going through the fence inside the footings of the house. The property is on clay soil and at least one of the houses on the street had to be underpinned for subsidence. My question is how much do I need to worry? Does this impact house insurance? And is there anything I can do to prevent the spread of the roots into my garden if the neighbour refuses to take action?

 

[Stevers]

Wisterias have been grown against homes for centuries* with spectacular results, and some of them are very old. We have two on the front of our stone house entwined together, both of them layered from the specimen that my parents inherited growing against their garage in 1966 and still going strong. There has been no sign of our Wisteria inside the house, and I've never heard of them doing any damage in the way that a tree can. I don't suppose they are very drain friendly, but I doubt if they would ever find their way into a modern plastic drain system, or a clay drain that wasn't already failing. I certainly wouldn't let ours anywhere near the eaves as it would send shoots into the loft given a chance. We have a Hydrangea Petiolaris on another wall, and that's pretty big too, but I have no concerns about that either as long as I don't let it reach the bargeboard.

[Edit] * Apparently they were introduced from China in 1816. it's hard to imagine the UK without Wisteria, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, onions...

 

[paulc]

And is there anything I can do to prevent the spread of the roots into my garden if the neighbour refuses to take action?

You can get a wide plastic root barrier (usually sold to restrict the run of bamboo). However, it is quite expensive stuff. Over the summer, I'd been digging out clumps of bamboo, and to stop the roots invading the garden, I used some 300mm wide DPC material - Time will tell if it is an effective barrier.
The likes of Screwfix & Toolstation do various widths up to 450mm. Depending on how energetic you feel with a spade, putting some in against your foundations (or fence line) should stop the roots getting through. Don't know how deep Wisteria roots normally go (a question for a gardening forum perhaps ?).