Question
QUESTION: I have a dead pin oak tree . It has slowly gone bad the last few years and has died this year. Question is..will it remain standing for years or do I have to have it takendown.  It is also losing big chunks odf bark as of a few days ago.

ANSWER: I depends on where in the US you are located, Here in the South trees start to break down fairly quick--the small twigs drop in a few month then the small branches, the bark sluffs, the larger limbs will begin to fall and the the trunk will fall. The time will depend on the size and decay fungi in the trunk and the weather (wind will help the breakage). Total time I would say over 3-4 years, In the west where there is less humidly the time will be much later say 5-10 years. So overall it is  nothing that needs to come down ASAP especially if when it does fall it will not hit anything. Hope this helps.

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QUESTION: Your answer is very helpful, but let me be more specific to see if you have any additional info to give me. Thr tree started to look like it was dying about three years ago. I had dead limbs cut off, it continued to bloom leaves (much less) the following year but had additional dead limbs overhanging my home. I had all of those cut off last fall. This year it has absolutuly NO leaves, so it is officially dead. and the bark has just now started coming off in big chunks. I live in St. Louis MO. Yes, we could have wind and then ice in the winter. The tree if it falls will fall away from my home, but could potentially do some deck damage. I would like to hold off a couple of years, because of the expense to remove it. The deck was actually built around the tree, so its location to remove it jacks up the cost. Any addfitional info or thoughts to share would be appreciated.

Answer
My guess is that you have between 1-3 years.Any limbs left will fall first, after these fall I would guess about 1 year or so. It is hard to determine since I would not know if the decay  fungi is already in the trunk or not without seeing the tree. So it is a guess on my part. You could check with the local State Forestry agency and see if one of their Foresters could come out and take a look. This is a free service depending on if they can work it in to their schedule. Also the city of St. Louis has a forestry division you might contact them. Here is their web link. http://stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/parks/forestry/