Neighbours planting a oak

We live in the countryside neighbours fence line is 10 meters from his house he wants to plant a red oak our a irish oak , on other side of fence is a feild , is this far enough away , our will we be all dead and buried before it's a problem lol

 

The latter.

 

The only thing that might be a problem eventually is shade, depending on the direction your garden faces.
Red oaks grow a fair bit faster than English oak, dont know much about Irish oak.

 

The Irish oak you need to plant twice............

 

When I looked it up all I got was horse racing
Appears it just a sessile oak.

 

I wouldn't want to plant an oak that close to a house, and definitely wouldn't buy a house with an oak that close. Yes it will be a while before it becomes a problem, but a problem it will become.

 

What about a birch would that be OK?

 

A very rough 'rule of thumb' is that the roots will spread a distance equivalent to the eventual height of the tree.

 

There is a giant protected oak about 12m from my house foundations and much nearer two others. It's not created any sort of problem in the 25 yrs since the houses were built.

They do suck up a lot of water. About 300 litres a day in the growing season, I think I read somewhere.

 

People would never buy any houses round here if they were concerned about mature trees nearby. Loads of houses have mature trees [several, not just one] within a short distance of the properties, and they present no problem.
However, a lot depends on the soil and climate. On light, sandy soil, there could be a greater risk of trees coming down, simply because of that lighter ground. We have clay soil that doesn't dry out to any extent, so all the trees are very well rooted in.
They don't often come down except in really high winds, or when they're damaged, but many are used to regular winds as they grow, so the roots are very well established, and that also makes a difference.
Birches are lighter, smaller trees generally, than oak, but they still get large. It really comes down to the conditions they're planted in, ie how well they're initially staked/established, and how quickly they grow, as to whether they pose any problem in future.

 

Birch can get very large, species dependent, and they have shallow roots which may make them more problematic.

Oaks have a reputation for growing slowly but they can be surprisingly quick once they get going. The answer to whether it would be problematic would rely on local conditions but where I am it wouldn't be a good fit because our houses are old, have shallow foundations and the soil is sandy down to a deep depth making it less stable. If the houses are built to modern code and you have a good foundation, then it may pose no problems.

You do basically come down to the question though as to if it's a good idea to plant a forest sized tree in a residential area. I love oaks and there are two ancient trees in one of the gardens on our road (which admittedly have caused no issues) but they take up an enormous amount of space and block so much light.

 

They provide fabulous habitat though.