Been hired by an engineer buddy to do a survey of a lot that backs up to a tidal river.?ÿ He needs topo, existing conditions/structures, and also wants property corners located.?ÿ The first 2 were easy.?ÿ The original subdivision survey (the only one for this lot) is from 1911 and very sketchy to read.?ÿ One of the corners was fairly easy and recoverable.?ÿ The other 3, well that's a different story.?ÿ One of the corners on the water's edge has a boat house and dock built on top of it.?ÿ I was able to find an adjacent survey that shows the corner as a calculated point under the encroaching building. They also set another Iron Pipe inline.?ÿ The other shoreline corner seems to have been eroded away, along with the destroyed dock that was built over it.?ÿ (This area is on the coast and hurricanes are a thing)?ÿ The final problem corner is fairly easy to get to, however there is a cast iron water meter box, a tree, and a power pole within a foot of where I calculated the corner should be.?ÿ This makes it difficult to use the locator without it screaming from all the iron in the meter box and power pole grounding rod.
I'm pretty sure I can handle the corners on the shoreline that have been built over and/or eroded. (I'll still take advice on different ways to deal with them)?ÿ However, the front corner that's crowded with obstacles ... I'd really like some tips on these.
Thanks in advance.
?ÿ
Yeah, Thanks Captain Obvious.?ÿ Tried it and almost clipped a water line.?ÿ ?ÿ
(There's always one) ?????ÿ
Number one solution I have found looks much like that in Norm's pic.
I agree, whenever a corner is near metal stuff, I just start digging. If I'm working with an old plat with no bearing calls and can't find the corner from one calc, I'll go find a couple more "easy" monuments and calc it again from those. Sometimes the recalculation will move the search just enough to find it.?ÿ
Yeah, Thanks Captain Obvious.?ÿ Tried it and almost clipped a water line.?ÿ ?ÿ
(There's always one) ?????ÿ
Use a smaller shovel..
This brings up a fantasy I've had for years and wished I had tried it out.
Find a pup with a good nose, maybe a bird dog or a beagle.?ÿ Take him with you every time you're going to dig up pins.?ÿ He'd probably eventually pickup the smell for rebar or nails and flagging or plastic caps.?ÿ Reward the dog well every time you uncover a pin or nail.
After a while you might not even need a pin finder.?ÿ Just scratch the ground where you think a pin might be buried and tell the dog to "hunt 'em up".
Oh.?ÿ I would definitely name him Schonstedt.?ÿ 😉
Waterlines are no big deal, but slice through a telephone line headed to the client's house and you will hear about it.
Speaking of hitting waterlines, just yesterday a contractor installing fiberoptic cable hit an 8-inch plastic line a few miles from me.
The city is replacing sections of our street.?ÿ The gas line markouts seem pretty good, but they snagged one last week because they slid a chunk of concrete and the gas line was immediately under it, only 8" below surface, on top of the clay (no gravel under the old paving).?ÿ The crew was muttering about the lines supposed to be 18" down. They hand-dig around the lines to put in gravel fill, but need to use the big machine to get the concrete out of the way.
@paden-cash What was it our old friend from Lawton used to say 'The Truth Is In The Dirt'
Glad I work where H2O lines are all 6 plus feet deep. I would do what you're doing and surround the corner with as much control as possible, calculate search points from each direction and mark them physically on the ground. It really helps when you search.?ÿ
slice through a telephone line headed to the client's house and you will hear about it
People still have landlines? LOL
@husker796
Thanks Husker.
LOL ... interesting concept.?ÿ But?ÿ I have 2 things hindering me.
1-?ÿ I'm allergic to dogs
2- I don't really like dogs. (probably because of #1)
Fact, and the point of Mr. Miller's post, is that there is no simple solution here. Get busy and clear and probe the area. I'm guessing that the installation of the utilities that you mention have obliterated the monument you seek long ago. But maybe not, so get digging. Just be careful about it.?ÿ
Call for locates. If you get locates and damage a utility line at only a foot or two of depth it is going to be on them to fix the damage, not you. At least that is how it is in my state.?ÿ
I'm pretty sure that utility depth here is 18".?ÿ ?ÿAnything much deeper than that and the hole you dug starts to fill with water.