20-05-2025
Couple have their home ruined and are left with £60k repair bill after bamboo from next door grows through their floor
A couple have been forced to demolish their conservatory after bamboo began to emerge from the walls and floor.
The husband and his wife, who have chosen to stay anonymous, had been living in Brighton for a year when they noticed leaves sprouting from the floor of the conservatory.
They were unsure what it was at first, but quickly realised it was next door's bamboo after digging up the path between the properties.
While bamboo isn't officially classified as an invasive species in the UK it spreads faster and further than the well-known Japanese knotweed.
The plant is stronger than steel and can reach up to 28 thousand pounds per square inch of tensile strength.
On lifting sections of the floor and removing sections of plaster from the walls, they quickly found an extensive network of mature bamboo rhizome.
Bamboo spreads through underground stems called rhizomes which can form a colony, creating new shoots, sometimes metres away from the original plant.
In this case it had sprouted beneath the concrete base of the conservatory, growing inside the cavity walls and extending into the bricks.
They were unsure what it was at first, but quickly realised it was next door's bamboo after digging up the path between the properties
The conservatory is now being demolished – a cost which is being borne by the neighbour's building insurer under a liability damage claim.
The husband said: 'There was a large stand of bamboo growing next door when we bought the property, but we didn't think anything of it and nothing came up on the survey.
'When we first saw the green leaves emerging inside our conservatory we thought it was some kind of grass, but then pretty quickly we realised it was bamboo.
'We hoped that if we dug up the rhizome underneath the path between our properties that would solve the problem, but it quickly became apparent that it was much more serious.
'When the conservatory floor was taken up and we saw the mass of bamboo underneath, we couldn't believe it.'
Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: 'We've had to have the conservatory demolished, it will cost us around £60k to replace it.'
Running bamboo varieties have evolved to spread rapidly, colonising vast areas of ground with roots often travelling over 10 metres.
Their spear-like shoots are strong enough to pierce tarmac, paths, cavity walls, and exploit cracks in concrete or gaps in brickwork.
Some varieties of bamboo actually have a higher tensile strength than steel - 28,000 PSI compared to steel's 23,000.
Yet homeowners and gardeners continue to underestimate the risk posed by bamboo, with a YouGov survey of over 2,000 people conducted in March 2025 showing that 54 per cent of people are unaware that it can cause problems such as property damage or legal disputes.
Emily Grant, director of Environet, an invasive plant removal firm said: 'We've seen it growing out of living room skirting boards, kitchen floors and even sprouting out from behind an oven.
'In most cases the only way to deal with it once it's found its way into a building is to dig up the floor and remove every rhizome.
'In this case, the conservatory has had to be completely demolished, through no fault of the homeowner's.
'If you do decide to plant bamboo in your garden, it's your responsibility to make sure it doesn't spread into adjoining properties.
'Choose a clumping variety and plant it in a pot lined with a bamboo-proof root barrier. If bamboo is present on a property you want to buy, or on the boundary, it's a good idea to get a bamboo survey so you understand any risk you're taking on and ensure there's no chance of a legal claim against you as soon as you move in.'
