Doubt that it's a problem, but pics would help. Willow oak is an oak, so a relatively strong, long-lived tree compared to many other common yard trees. Again, a pic of the trunk and also of the lower & upper limbs would help identify possible issues.

Some will advise to get a certified arborist to look, but they will often say "cut it down" because that's their business & not necessarily what is best for you.

Got lots of BIG old willow oaks around here, and we get LOTS of violent thunderstorms (and sometimes ice storms) around here, but I'll save my comments until I see an image of your tree and house.

I have lots of mature willow oaks in my yard. I had 4 in the front, only one remaining. One on the side, still there. 5 in the back, 4 remaining. They "self prune" so the falling limbs were likely dead or dying before they came down. In our case, we had clear signs that they were dead or dying, so were able to remove the ones that needed to be removed before they came down on a house or even a fence. The front yard ones two had funguses growing on them and holes or visible scars on the lower trunk. The other one, closest to the house and the one in the back just did not leaf out at all in the spring (2 different years) and we had them both taken down before the next spring.

Thanks for the prompt replies, everyone! Attached are a couple of photos. My preference is to keep the tree, but it is indeed mightly close. No signs of fungus or disease though.

Wow! Our willow oaks in the front were just like yours- two VERY close together. One died and had to be cut down, the other is still going strong. I will see if I can find a picture.- ok, I'm back. The above is the picture of when we had two willow oaks. Also there was a wisteria growing up in them both (not by us. We finally had it all cut out when they were removing the one dead of the two pictured above.)

Here is what it looks like now. Still very close to the house. We are on a slab, hasn't seemed to bother the house at all. The driveway is also doing just fine. A sidewalk that used to run between the trees and the house was heaved up some at a crack, not sure if that was due to the tree. Excuse all the cans, those were moved there to be out of the way of the tree company accessing the back yard.

That is a bit closer than ideal. It would be neat to watch in a storm, trying to see the trunk flexing near the house.

You are probably properly concerned about it, and probably got good advice. from your arborist.

To me it sounds like the application of that advice is to keep the money saved up to remove the tree at the first sign of decline.

I wouldn't call your tree old at all. The bark doesn't have the deep furrows of an old tree, it looks healthy and vigorous. I have two concerns, the double trunk and the distance of the one trunk from the overhang. Can you take a pic or two of the trunks at ground level so they show side by side rather than behind one another?

When I was a kid my family vacationed at a "cabin resort" in the NH woods. The cabins were on blocks and surrounded by trees. One cabin had a young ash that I watched grow from a sapling to a large tree. It grew from almost beneath the cabin, leaned away from the overhang on the gable end, then grew straight up among other trees. In time the trunk expanded and touched the facia on the overhang. When the tree moved with the wind, the trunk made groaning noises as it rubbed the cabin. Guests weren't happy with groans in the middle of the night.

I was friends with the owners of the place, and was asked if I couldn't do something. The tree was very vigorous and healthy so I was loathe to remove it. The overhang of the cabin's roof extended out at least two feet, so since this was just a rough building and with the owner's permission I climbed on the roof with my trusty chain saw and cut a notch out of the overhang to give the trunk room to flex without rubbing the cabin. When I cut the notch from the overhang the cabin lurched toward the tree almost knocking me off the roof.

These are always tough calls. The tree lover in me says why take down sound, healthy oak trees, even if so near a dwelling. The absolutist in me says that safety is compromised while those (or that) trees stand. Neither I nor anyone else can warrant what is going to happen. And man have I gotten burned in the distant past of my career making projections into the future about a specific tree! It's really down to your level of risk acceptance. I lived with very large silver maple limbs hanging over my house....and my neighbor's house....and the other neighbor's house, this was a very big tree-for decades and only finally decided I couldn't live with the risk after having done exactly that for years.

IMO the tree is not particularly old & looks healthy. Of course, more brittle trees like silver maple would not be desirable so close to a house, but I don't think your oak is a danger, at least not for decades. Double-trunked oaks are quite common & not a problem unless a crack or rot develops in the crotch.

I see quite a few houses w/large but healthy oaks right beside them & it's not an issue, other than the periodic nuisance of clogged gutters, which I had yrs ago in VA.

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Thanks so much for the great input, everyone. I enjoyed the stories too, and fortunately our tree only threatens our house and not the neighbors' or the neighbors' neighbors. However, the neighbors' cars are in the line of fire. Jess, thank your for the photos, and I love your metal roof. We too have recycling cans beside the house, as do all of our neighbors. We have consulted three arborists. Two said that the trees should come down b/c of the risk and proximity to the foundation, and one noted that it is a healthy tree and that we should not remove it until we see signs of fungus/disease or cracking in our foundation. We love the tree, and it was part of the curb appeal that sold us on the house in the first place. So, we'll likely keep it longer, but we would truly struggle if it were to fall. Stormy weather, including hurricanes, is an issue here. So, we'll continue revisiting our concerns, but deep down, we really don't want to remove the tree. Again, your guidance has been extremely helpful.

Good deal, bigmoll. I think "adaptive management" is called for, which is my fancy, ten-dollar word for exactly what you are going to do-monitor the situation and make decisions as you go, based on new data. What else is there? Good luck and enjoy your tree!

If it had a single trunk, I would probably say keep it. Problem is, I see oaks growing like this all of the time, and usually one of the trunks (or both) die an early death. Remove it.

Looks like it is actually 2 trees that grew close together. They dont really seem to be a problem. I would keep them. Foundation problems are overrated. I see trees close to houses like that occasionally.

Crown looks small and narrow as though tree has been excessively pruned or there has been another problem. Also it doesn't really look go well with the house.

Embo, those are jesshs', not bigmoll's trees I think you refer to. The crowns on bigmoll's look more or less normal, as in those first leafless pics. jesshs's have vines going up them too.

bigmoll, in regards to hurricanes, your lot has alot of trees of near the same height & these all act together to reduce winds -- an isolated tree by itself would be more at risk. So that is another plus....

In addition, whoever told you the tree would start dying in 10 yrs is wildly guessing -- it certainly wouldn't die from old age..

Our neighbor has a willow oak tree that is near our septic tank. We fear it's roots will get into our septic. How real is that.

Iris I have a similar question...except I’m the one with the willow oak “sapling“; it’s about 10-feet tall now. We transplanted it to our back yard, about 5-6 feet from our slab foundation. Wondering if anyone knows if that’s a good idea or not/if we should move further away?