My red maple in Gaithersburg (off Goshen Rd) has the bark coming off. I noticed bracket fungus growing from the bark this fall and poked at it. About 50% of the bark around the shady side of the trunk came off; it was rotting underneath. I asked Care of Trees (CoT), but they did not know what it was, though, not a disease. There is some evidence of wood borers on the sunnier side of the tree. They said there is calussing at the edges but feel the tree is trying to heal. They say it is under stress; (aside from the bark coming off) odd shape, not tall and buds close together. They said the rotting has been going on for some time. The leaves did not drop early and there is just a little dead in the branches (no more than usual). Buds are also set for next year. I have had other trees in my yard lose bark in odd ways over the past 10 years: a fully mature tulip poplar that we cut down; a young katsura that may be my fault because i had a corrugated black plastic pipe on the trunk for about 3 years to protect it from deer-CoT suggested rapid freeze/thaw of the bark due to the black pipe; and a silver maple that had two patches of bark come off in an odd way. Again, i am concerned about a disease (I know of no one else in my neighborhood that has this problem). Barring disease, do you know what is causing the problem. We will have the tree fertilized in the spring and treated for borers. Pictures are attached.