Regardless of who owns the wall, have you asked/told/mentioned to your neighbour about your planting plans? I appreciate you don’t think you need to but common courtesy wouldn’t go amiss.
I don’t know anything about climbers on houses (I get freaked out at the thought of spiders having easier access to my bedroom windows).
May it cause dampen your neighbours kitchen?
Could it weaken their bricks?
How deep is that concrete? My neighbour recently dug out loads of concrete from around his house, it was deeper than he guessed it was going to be and back breaking work. It was also extremely loud.
Could a large trough planter with some trellis fixed to it work?
I was thinking could I not lay a vertical membrane to protect their house from dampness? Do the climbers attach to this membrane?
Another option is to build a wooden frame slightly away from the wall to leave a gap, maybe 100mm? I would fix the frame to the wall with lots of mini-posts.
I am reluctant to use planters above ground as I believe you have to change the soil more often?
I am not sure how deep the concrete is but I would want to dig into the concrete, even if this was away from their wall a bit to not expose their foundations, but having said that surely filling the area dug out around the foundations with topsoil would strengthen the foundations up again? Would roots be the issue as regards the foundations?
If that is your understanding then you really should take advice from a solicitor before doing anything ... I would never take legal advice from an architect ... it is not their subject.
I think Party Wall legislation probably applies.
In Scotland and Northern Ireland a boundary wall, one built equally on both sides of a boundary, is considered to have an invisible line down the middle of it, with each owner owning half. The law states that each owner has a common interest in the wall as a whole. As a result, each owner is entitled to use his share of the wall as he likes as long as that use does not negatively impact upon the common interest in the wall as a whole.
I think that paragraph might resolve it in my favour?
Would having climbers negatively impact the neighbour's side of the wall?
I believe you're reading this as if it is written in English not lawyer. The wall you are looking at is not built equally on both sides of a boundary. Talking spatially, sure, 50% is on your side and 50% is on the neighbours side. BUT, for you, it is a boundary wall, for the neighbour it is (presumably) a load bearing wall holding his house up, providing insulation and damp prevention. The wall is not equal in the job it does for both of you.
Amusingly, if this was an inside wall in your house, there would be no problem with putting up a green wall of plants.
In England a wall like that is considered a party wall unless the property deeds say differently. So both of you jointly own the entire wall and can object if your neighbour does something to materially affect the wall. Paint - not a problem, screwing holes in - problem.
I would build a fence and attach it to the floor using metal fence post brackets (so nothing is attached to the wall). You can grow/attach what you want up/to that
The easiest way of doing this is having a chat with your neighbour. Tell him the side return is a bit gloomy and you'd like to get some colour there, would he mind if you attached a few screws to the wall to put some wire or battens on for a climbing plant. Chances are he'll say fine, no problems.
Digging into the concrete? Oof. That's really problematic. You absolutely cannot dig straight down along the line of the wall, because that compromises the foundations, even if you fill with topsoil. Top soil is never going to be as strong or rigid as the concrete you remove. How far out from the wall can you dig? That mostly depends on how the house was built, which depends on how old it is, and also the current state of the wall. IOW you need an engineer/surveyors opinion. It would be so much easier to go with raised beds.
Following on from TheGreenMan comment how about something like the image below. I would dig 300mm from the party wall, I would place soil 600mm wide. I would then need to attach wooden posts to the ground and attach trellises to the wooden posts for the climbers to grow up.
Is 600mm too wide could I make it narrower? The house was built in 1910 so I assume the foundations are stepped foundations.
The easiest way of doing this is having a chat with your neighbour. Tell him the side return is a bit gloomy and you'd like to get some colour there, would he mind if you attached a few screws to the wall to put some wire or battens on for a climbing plant. Chances are he'll say fine, no problems.
Digging into the concrete? Oof. That's really problematic. You absolutely cannot dig straight down along the line of the wall, because that compromises the foundations, even if you fill with topsoil. Top soil is never going to be as strong or rigid as the concrete you remove. How far out from the wall can you dig? That mostly depends on how the house was built, which depends on how old it is, and also the current state of the wall. IOW you need an engineer/surveyors opinion. It would be so much easier to go with raised beds.
Could I not dig a small part of concrete 300mm away from the wall to see if I do hit any foundations? If I do not hit any foundations start my hole for the soil from there.
I assume raised beds are going to be a nightmare to maintain? Also, there may be drainage issues to deal with?
Am I correct in thinking raised beds are constant work every few years whereas planting the climbers directly into the ground is maintenance free for decades?
Posts
I don’t know anything about climbers on houses (I get freaked out at the thought of spiders having easier access to my bedroom windows).
May it cause dampen your neighbours kitchen?
Could it weaken their bricks?
How deep is that concrete? My neighbour recently dug out loads of concrete from around his house, it was deeper than he guessed it was going to be and back breaking work. It was also extremely loud.
Could a large trough planter with some trellis fixed to it work?
Not sure I’ve helped but...
Failure is always an option.
I was thinking could I not lay a vertical membrane to protect their house from dampness? Do the climbers attach to this membrane?
Another option is to build a wooden frame slightly away from the wall to leave a gap, maybe 100mm? I would fix the frame to the wall with lots of mini-posts.
I am reluctant to use planters above ground as I believe you have to change the soil more often?
I am not sure how deep the concrete is but I would want to dig into the concrete, even if this was away from their wall a bit to not expose their foundations, but having said that surely filling the area dug out around the foundations with topsoil would strengthen the foundations up again? Would roots be the issue as regards the foundations?
Amusingly, if this was an inside wall in your house, there would be no problem with putting up a green wall of plants.
In England a wall like that is considered a party wall unless the property deeds say differently. So both of you jointly own the entire wall and can object if your neighbour does something to materially affect the wall. Paint - not a problem, screwing holes in - problem.
https://collier-stevens.co.uk/faqs/party-wall-excavation-questions/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Digging into the concrete? Oof. That's really problematic. You absolutely cannot dig straight down along the line of the wall, because that compromises the foundations, even if you fill with topsoil. Top soil is never going to be as strong or rigid as the concrete you remove. How far out from the wall can you dig? That mostly depends on how the house was built, which depends on how old it is, and also the current state of the wall. IOW you need an engineer/surveyors opinion. It would be so much easier to go with raised beds.
Is 600mm too wide could I make it narrower? The house was built in 1910 so I assume the foundations are stepped foundations.
I assume raised beds are going to be a nightmare to maintain? Also, there may be drainage issues to deal with?
Am I correct in thinking raised beds are constant work every few years whereas planting the climbers directly into the ground is maintenance free for decades?
I really think this is a non starter.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border