We recently purchased a 1910 Craftsman-style house in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington.
Unfortunately, the previous owners did NEXT TO NOTHING to keep up the house or property during the 16 years they owned it. (But this made it affordable...)

One of the issues we had to tackle was the removal of hundreds of square feet of ivy that had grown all over two of the exterior walls. Ivy behind the cedar shingle siding, ivy into basement, ivy between window casing, etc.

With much pain, effort and determination, the ivy is gone. However, the little hairy 'legs' that held the ivy to the walls is still there. i.e. when we pulled the ivy down, some remnants remained on the siding. We now are getting ready to paint and want to get rid of this stuff before the painting begins.

The question to you is: what is the easiest way to get rid of this stuff? Is there some non-toxic chemical or soap that would loosen this stuff up so I could scrub it off with a brush?

I have considered sand blasting and pressure washing but both have such serious nasty side effects on the building that I would prefer to avoid them...

HELP! and THANKS!

-Dave Karlson
White Salmon, Washington
e-mail: dkarlson at yahoo.com