Just An Idea

[+Airmapper]

I'm no surveyor, but I have milled through deeds, found markers, and have used my GPS to put corners on my maps. But I had an idea.

 

Wouldn't it be cool for a individual landowner to place customized Benchmark's as property corner's. By customize I mean putting the name, and maybe info on who's property borders the mark, as well as other position info, and if your creative a personal logo. I don't suppose it would be legal unless done by a surveyor. But think of how much better this would be as opposed to the little metal steaks surveyors are using now. From that point on there would be no question as to where your corner is.

 

Of course you would have to be very rich to do this. But it's a far fetched idea anyway.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

Presumably 3/4 of each disk would be on other people's property.

[+Kewaneh & Shark]

I'm no surveyor...

 

...But think of how much better this would be as opposed to the little metal steaks surveyors are using now. From that point on there would be no question as to where your corner is...

Just about anything could be used as a property corner provided that its placement and description were properly documented and recorded with the local governing jurisdiction, usually the County Surveyor and/or Recorder. Iron pipes and pieces of rebar set vertically in the ground are presently some of the most commonly used items to indicate a property corner. They are usually tagged by the setting surveyor or engineer with his or her license number, most often with a plastic or metal cap that fits either into, or onto the pipe or rebar. Laws in most areas of the country, probably all areas, dictate that this be done.

 

Pipes and rebar are used for many reasons, but one is that vertical placement like this is not a naturally occuring. Another reason is that the top of a pipe or rebar is fairly small leaving relatively no question to where the corner is. Measurements between two small objects are going to give a more accurate definition of the line between them than measuring between two large objects. Essentially, the larger the object, the more possibility for error. I've seen property corners marked with piles of rocks, car axles, and even railroad rails (along railroad beds), but there's always a concern as to which part of the object actually indicates the corner (particularly with the rock piles, ie: where exactly is the corner on that pile of rocks).

 

Using a large brasscap, like the type used for benchmarks, could be used as a property corner if a property owner asked it to be done. It would, however, be substantially more expensive than setting a more common iron pipe. Property ownership info might be nice for the property owner to look at, but from a surveying standpoint it would be relatively useless. The people who own the property know who they are, and they usually know their neighbors, so they don't need a brasscap to tell them what they already know. Also, as soon as one of the property owners sells the property, the info on the brasscap no good. Property information and ownership data is, for the most part, public information. Surveyors research property and retrieve deeds, maps, and other records that can be obtained prior to setting foot on the property. When a surveyor goes looking for a property corner, he or she is not going to care what is stamped on it. What matters is that it matches what is recorded with the County in both description and relative position to other property markers.

 

The 'little metal steaks'(sp) that we use now aren't great, but they've been working for a long time without question and they're the best we've got for right now. They are better than using a 3" or 4" brass disk. Surveyors have been setting both benchmarks and property corners for many, many years. If using a larger cap for a property corner would be a better idea, believe me, a surveyor would have thought of it years ago and it would be common practice today.

 

- Kewaneh

[+PFF]

Actually, by paying extra, you can have concrete monuments set. My wife says that when she worked for a surveying firm, this was more common than one would think.

 

-Paul-

[+Airmapper]

I think it gives a better sense of security, because a metal post can be picked up and walked off with, but a concrete structure is not going to be taken easily, and will leave a hole of it is.

[Z15]

I think it gives a better sense of security, because a metal post can be picked up and walked off with, but a concrete structure is not going to be taken easily, and will leave a hole of it is.

Once we were searching out lot corners bordering US Hyw 2 for wideniing etc. We were searching with a metal detector on this one corner lot. We noticed this old lady looking out the window at us so the boss went and spoke with her. A little while later her husban comes home and tells, I pulled out some irons pins over there because they were in the way of the lawnmower. We had a copy of his survey from the deeds office so there were pins set years ago.

 

The old sot, pulled his lot pins along 3 sides of his property rather then hammering them down.

[evenfall]

I have set rebar that you better bring something big, yellow and named Caterpillar to pull out! Some ground is HARD! I have pulled stuff out with a D-6 that when the chain came taut on the rippers, the cat changed directions! heheheh!

 

Some people Hate survey markers near their property though. They are hoping to gain land via adverse possession laws, and sometimes they succeed.

 

Rob

[+Kewaneh & Shark]

I set two property corners yesterday - 3/4"x30" iron pipes. The tops were set 6" below the surface of the ground and it took 3-5 minutes to pound them down with a 6 pound sledge. They're not coming out any time soon and they're not coming out easily. They certainly will not be 'walked off' with.

 

The project I was working on was a parcel split and it required searching for adjacent property corners. One of the corners I found, one that happened to be closest to the pipes I set, was a 1" iron pipe. It was set to monument one of the original town lots in 1908, 97 years ago. It was in good condition and very secure. With that evidence, there's a good chance that the corners I set yesterday will still be here in 2102.

 

- Kewaneh

[rescue557]

I'd love to have benchmarks to mark my property boundry. I think that they would be more obvious than say, rebar or metal pipe. I don't exactly agree that one would be more accurate than another so long as there is a specific point marked in the center of the mark, be it a point, a cross, etc.

[evenfall]

I'd love to have benchmarks to mark my property boundry. I think that they would be more obvious than say, rebar or metal pipe. I don't exactly agree that one would be more accurate than another so long as there is a specific point marked in the center of the mark, be it a point, a cross, etc.

You don't have to agree, But that doesn't change what is true. A rebar driven perpendicular to the ground in the place it was properly determined to be driven, is industry standard for property line work. It is more precisely located than the width of any fence known line, so what more could you ask?

 

If Kenewah set rebar 6"under the ground at your property corners, I can assure you that those corners would be pretty safe, very stable if your soil is. His notes would tell the next surveyor where they are, and other people would not know where they are in order to fool with them. This protects you. They are as accurate as is needed for property line work anywhere in the USA.

 

Best Regards, Rob

[survey609]

I'm a surveyor in New Jersey. Most of the massive tracts that made up the state have been subdivided. I had the opportunity to do a portion of a survey whose lands where once owned by Arthur Brisbane. This gentlemen owned several thousand acres in what is now Monmounth County. Each monumented corner was recited in the deed, thusly recording the monument and making the concrete marker the corner. Each monument was formed with initials "AB" inscribed in the top. Those monuments were considered gospel, and controled the outbound of the property regardless of course or distance.

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

I am gonna open a big can here if I aint careful.

 

In The Public Lands States,It is required by law to monument the corners of the

PUBLIC LANDS with a cap and destinctive markings of the tract it represents.

This applies to the PLSS only.

The County surveyor,or Licenced (MO)is to remonument the corners and file the approriate paper work.

 

Adding a mark on or near or at those points in my opinion is legal as long as you place them just inside the line on your property.

 

It would be cost effective to monument the main corners of the 1/4's or the tract.

 

Mine has 7 main points so thats only $210.00 at $30.00 each,and I think that is about what they cost,the cap.

[+Airmapper]

Those monuments were considered gospel, and controled the outbound of the property regardless of course or distance.

That would be a big advantage IMO. I've seen surveyors cut corners and put them where they want them. (I platted this out once with my GPS and USAPhotomaps, there is an obvious skew in the layout of the plat and it threw the acreage off considerably as opposed to the deed. {I estimate my accuracy at 10 feet +/- per measurement})

 

By using a monument type marker for property, it becomes less likely that a mark will be lost, tampered with, or destroyed. And as GEO*Trailblazer 1 mentioned it's not as expensive as you would think.

 

I think it would be a more troublesome way to survey, but for large tracts with few main corners it would be feasible.