A more permanent TP

Ran into a similar situation many years ago with a company working on a major highway route that was avoiding existing roads.?ÿ Had found many of their corners.?ÿ Went in search of a quarter corner and found one of their capped bars, identical to the others.?ÿ It did not fit worth a dang.?ÿ Made no sense to be where we found it?ÿ yet close enough that we did find it.?ÿ Called them up and asked about the bar with cap #XX3456-12, or something like that.?ÿ "Oh, you can ignore that one.?ÿ That was set strictly for photo control.?ÿ We didn't need that quarter corner so skipped over it."?ÿ AAARRRGGGHHH!!!?ÿ (insert picture of someone being strangled viciously)

I hate that.?ÿ Not so common around here with IRs but I've seen quite a few Berntsen copper plugs with an LS# set as control.?ÿ Years ago I started using 1/2" IRs for my control.?ÿ That way when the if the cap is gone you have a pretty good idea it is not a property corner.?ÿ I really wanted to use square 1/2" rods, like ODOT used to use, but I can not find a reasonably priced source.

I've noticed a couple places where our city crews use square rods for their references on street and storm drain reconstruction. At least one bore no resemblance to a ROW PI or PC, and is gone now.?ÿ Not sure why they don't find the nearest property corner rebar.

Back when I was gainfully employed, we used 1/2" square bar and red plastic caps with the agency initials and the words "Random Point". We would set them 3 to 5 tenths below ground so they weren't obvious to land owners. We would also make sure they weren't near a fence corner or existing property corner so a shovel wielding land owner wouldn't inadvertently discover it and mistake it for a property corner. And, Oregon being a recording state and all, they'd be shown on the survey we filed at the county surveyor's office. A lot of the R/W retracement surveys we did would then be handed over to private consultants for design/build and the control we set was intended to survive the project.

@john-putnam

Backing up John on this - Oregon law requires that 5/8" rods be used, where rods are used, for boundary marks. Across the river in Clark County, Washington the law allows any size of rebar, but surveyors commonly follow the Portland area practice. I do as he does, that is, I use 1/2" rods for control. Nevertheless many surveyors go ahead and use 5/8" rods for both, when using rods for control points.  It rarely causes any problem.

My reasons for using 1/2" rods are manyfold. In increasing order of order of importance:

1. less weight in the truck
2. avoid confusion with boundary marks
3. much cheaper, and easier to cut, than 5/8" when I have to buy them
4. much easier to pick up for free on construction sites than 5/8" (more commonly used in construction)
5. the minimum size I consider beefy enough for the purpose. 

1. I set 1/2 in rebar or 3/4 in pipe for monuments and GPS control points.
2. Orange plastic caps for monuments and yellow plastic caps for GPS?ÿ control points
3. All hubs are 60d nails with inch square orange Web flag and beer cap?ÿ
4. A 1/2 inch plastic cap fits snug on a 60d nail

@a-harris

I have found property corners with pretty caps on them that turn out to be 60d nails.

It's even better (?) when someone sets more permanent control points for you.?ÿ About 40 years ago we had cut out all the lines and set hubs and tacks for a random traverse around a piece of property.?ÿ When we came back the client had dug up all the hubs and replaced them with axles.?ÿ He was under the impression that the hubs were either corners or on the property line.?ÿ Probably 60-75 percent were on the neighbor's property because there was a nice bushhogged strip on his side.

Andy

Helpful clients are a blessing, aren't they??ÿ 😡 😆 😆 ?ÿ ?ÿYou want to get upset, but you don't because they have just given you the opportunity to bill out more hours due to their own foolishness.

Dang. I thought you were talking about permanent toilet paper.

I was thinking the same thing... A cast iron roll of tp or a bidet!

@mike-berry

Mike, where did you get square bars?  I have not been able to find them on this side of the mountains for decades.

Not on point, but related:?ÿ Surveyors who use 5/8" caps on 1/2" rebar by building the bar up with flagging make me want to do bad things.?ÿ I've gotten to the point that I dig down below the cap to verify the size of the rebar because several surveyors around here can't be trusted. ???­?ÿ

7/8" rods screwed together, driven to refusal with 3" cap and concrete surround is the standard for long term control points for large design/builds. Every 1500' or less, inter-visible and leveled. As you go to lesser jobs, such as stock reservoirs, well pads the control shrinks in importance but still a rod in stable ground with cap, 3 minimum should be placed. Turning points for a lot survey or small plot plan should be something that won't be confused by location as a property monument. I have a series of caps along a street construction job drilled in pavement as control, they have been there over 20 years now. Still when walking into one of the local restaurant I have to step over one of them, but if someone confuses it as a property monument they shouldn't be surveying. Unless in a protected site I don't use uncapped rebar, livestock can and have been injured by rebar sticking up out of the ground.?ÿ