Question
Our son brought a small Northern Red Oak home from school a few months ago and we'd like to plant it near the house to shade our deck, but don't want its roots to damage our crawl space or basement walls.  Our preferred planting spot is 17' from a crawl space wall reaching an estimated 2' below grade and 21' from a basement wall reaching 4.5' below grade, but could planting in this spot cause damage to either wall?  If so, what minimum distances to you recommend?

Answer
That would be a good place. Red Oak roots are not considered a problem except for if it were close to a drive or sidewalk the root could lift the walk when it matures. You should not have a problem with the location you asked about. When it is mature (30-50 years from now ) the limbs may need to be pruned since they may reach the 20 feet to the house and rub. But this is way down the road and can easily be taken care of at that time. Enjoy the tree.