I set a 1/16th corner last fall. It turned out to be controversial because it was close to a large house being built and the two landowners don't get along. The landowner I was working for wanted to have the boundary line staked and then he would build a fence this spring. The neighbor didn't like the position and unknown to me dumped a large pile of dirt on it. Then my client wanted me to write a letter saying that the monument is in the correct place. I said I can't do that cause I don't know if it's undisturbed. Well, my client dug the monument out, I located it and missed it 0.02' from the set coordinates. Of course, the tell if a corner has been disturbed is if it's still aligned correctly; this one is. When they are rotated you know, if you know you know.
I was able to write the letter and time stamped when I found it correctly placed.
I explained to him that we don't set guards on our monuments, so after that date I can't say where it is.
I was also able to relocate the controlling monuments,,,,,,,,,,just in case.
Do you not record surveys in your area? If so that would be my statement that the corner is in the correct place.
Do you not record surveys in your area? If so that would be my statement that the corner is in the correct place.
There's multiple recordings, but I won't write a letter saying the monument is correct today without going to the field today no matter how many records are on file.
@mightymoe What does the letter do that the recorded survey doesn't?
It dates the time the monument was located, the record from last fall doesn't. That's what the client needed since he was building a boundary fence and his neighbor disputed the location.
Having no recording law does not prevent a surveyor from preparing a map and stating thereon, in one form or another, that the conditions shown are as of a certain date. The mere act of dating such a map should do the job. Same as with a letter.
I record almost all surveys I do. Not that it's required for all the surveys I do, but there are surveys that do require recordings, the ones that don't I will usually file a survey on anyway. There isn't a state I've worked in that isn't a recording state, I suspect there isn't one, but I haven't worked in all 50, not even close.
When you record one of your surveys is there any restriction on paper size?
When you record one of your surveys is there any restriction on paper size?
That's a great question. It's changing, but yes, and that all depends on the state, the agency, the clerk, ect. Some surveys have to be 8-1/2x11, then they changed recently, some have a list including 10x15, it's a mixed bag. But it seems to be going to anything goes sizes with most offices scanning everything anyway.
Surveys in Oregon and Washington are required to be on 18" x 24" and I find that, often, to be too small to easily include all the necessary detail.
I find that, often, to be too small to easily include all the necessary detail.
I agree. Plats (land divisions) that are recorded at the clerk's office (and a copy at the surveyor's office) are required to be 18"X24" in Oregon but the size of rank and file boundary surveys that are only filed at the Surveyor's Office are subject to the surveyor's office discretion. In the office I used to work at, 24"X36" wide boundary surveys were accepted and I took full advantage of that. I like big mylar and I cannot lie. But they recently had to disallow that size because of archive space. The steel plat filing cabinets are stored in a tricked out fancy temperature-controlled fire-sprinklered archive building. A cabinet holding, say, 500 mylars designed to hold 36" sheets is way bigger than the 18" X 24" hanging file cabinets. Not many 36" surveys are filed, so maybe 25 of the 500 surveys are 36", but the plat cabinet takes up the room of a steel box holding 500 24"x36" mylars. And archive space is at a premium, is rapidly diminishing and the smart thing to do was to require everything to be at a maximum size of 18"X24". It was a pretty easy decision for them to make on requiring 18"x24", especially since most Oregon surveyors are geared for that size of media anyway.
I'm going to be filing a Record of Survey in the next month. It will consist of 18 11X17" sheets, the local office requires 24x36" plats so I will print 4 sheets on 4 24x36" mylars then 2 on the last one. DOT requires 11x17" sheets, Clerk's office 24x36". That's one clerk, others will accept 11x17, still others require 18x24, if there isn't enough room I always make multiple sheets, maybe a cover sheet with deeds, location map, legend, ect, then the plat on a second sheet.
Or like my new ROS 18 sheets.
I can visualize doing surveys on multiple 11"x17" sheets. They would be in a rather different form from that which I am accustomed to. In Oklahoma we did corner records on legal size, which severely limited the detail which could be included.
I can visualize doing surveys on multiple 11"x17" sheets. They would be in a rather different form from that which I am accustomed to. In Oklahoma we did corner records on legal size, which severely limited the detail which could be included.
We often place drawings on the back side of a corner record, or refer to a more complex filed record of survey for details. In Montana the corner record form is the only place to file found corners if a Certificate of Survey isn't possible. One clerk told me about a surveyor that wanted to file a COS of just section corners, but no boundary as he was surveying within a large ranch of 250k acres. She wouldn't allow it to be filed since it didn't meet the standard for a COS which is basically changing or showing a boundary. The 250k acre deed wouldn't fit on a 18x24" plat.
Having no recording law does not prevent a surveyor from preparing a map and stating thereon, in one form or another, that the conditions shown are as of a certain date. The mere act of dating such a map should do the job. Same as with a letter.
Not sure how helpful it would be when someone could just mess with the monument after the letter was dated, but if someone wants to pay for it then I'm down to oblige.
Not sure how helpful it would be when someone could just mess with the monument after the letter was dated, but if someone wants to pay for it then I'm down to oblige.
This could be said of every document we ever create. Conditions could change the minute we leave the site. This is why it is important to date your documents.
We don't put security teams on the monuments. At the date I put on the letter the monument was there and in the correct position. After that date, anything might happen. This one will be difficult to move much without it being obvious. The brace panel is in, line posts were already in place, any move more than a foot will jump out.
We don't put security teams on the monuments.
I set them, I don't maintain them
I had a guy show up at the office with one of my monuments, he wanted me to hustle out and reset it.......for free of course.