Came across this the other day, first couple paragraphs had my head spinning.
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-find-property-lines/
Unfortunately there's no place to make comments to Mr. Vila. I'm pretty sure some of us would have something to say.
I've read worse. He does mention some of the pitfalls and recommend a professional in at least some cases.
I always rely on the sidewalk expansion joints... :shutmouth: ?ÿ
it's actually pretty reliable in my neighborhood. Generally within about an inch. Also water meter boxes are close to equidistant from the property line.
Good enough to know where to stop mowing the lawn anyway.
Also water meter boxes are close to equidistant from the property line.
In a lot of the large subdivisions I worked on in the past, they were smack dab where there used to be a property corner...because the crews would find the rod & lath and use that as a guide for where to drop the meters and lay the line. The rod would be tossed aside.
So, not great from a surveying standpoint. But pretty reliable for rough intersection of ROW and lot line.
Came across this the other day, first couple paragraphs had my head spinning.
Unfortunately there's no place to make comments to Mr. Vila. I'm pretty sure some of us would have something to say.
Digging a bit deeper into the web site I found a discussion forum that would allow comments.
We had a Registered Engineer/Surveyor that regularly staked City lots using curb cuts and measuring off the back of the curb. He believed that was the proper way to do it. Fortunately at 92 he finally quit surveying.
?ÿ
Was in the woods today on the rear line of a subdivision where it joins a new unit of the same subdivision.?ÿ I saw a older gentleman at the rear of one of the new lots where there's a new foundation.?ÿ He was dressed in office khakis and a nice polo shirt with a logo and what looked like a name tag. I was in a hurry and there had been constant construction activity over there all afternoon so I paid him no attention until I realized he was operating a homeowner/treasure hunter metal detector and had what appeared to be a handful of maps.?ÿ I was finished and ready to head back to the truck but I jokingly called out to him and asked, "Are you looking for gold or silver". He responded, "I'm looking for property corners", and headed toward me. I'd assumed he was a future homeowner or maybe a builder with a DIY survey streak but as he approached I realized I had found my Sasquatch.?ÿ What stood before me was a real live Realtor in uniform with a rented treasure hunting detector trying to find lot corners for his buyer so they'd know where they could build a fence. We talked for a few minutes and he left with my card and suggestion that he call the developer's or the builder's surveyor and save himself a ton of trouble and liability.?ÿ I'm pretty sure he made the call as he walked back to his car. 😆
At least Bob's last paragraph was about contacting a professional surveyor.
I agree... my thought that should have been the FIRST paragraph. But all in all, not a terrible article.
His last name wasn't Shaw was it?
He was one of my father's old surveyor buddies that survived into this century. I can remember surveying with him in the '60s. He had a 1975 4 door Caprice, a 30" Gurley and a chain...which he rarely used. Every once in a while I would run into him in the field. I always stopped and loaned him my pin-finder for a while so he could "dip up some control". His surveys were always on letter size, hand drawn and wrong.
I guess it was about '08 when his health got bad and he had to go to the rest home. Well into his 90s he had outlived all his family. Rusty, another surveyor buddy of ours watered his dogs for him and took him Peach Schnapps at the nursing home. He didn't last long there.
R.I.P. Warren.
Anything that reminds people that they SHOULD know where their rights begin and end is a positive step.?ÿ Had a recent job in an old town that has maybe one-tenth the population it had once upon a time.?ÿ Was showing the client his boundaries, which did not make sense along the south side, and he points to a tree line about fifty feet south of his south line and asked, "What about the rest of it??ÿ Over to those trees"?ÿ He had been mowing that area in the few years he had owned the property we surveyed because the guy he bought it from told him that was the south boundary.?ÿ Apparently, the owner by deed had been assuming the same thing.?ÿ For those of you in high dollar metropolis try to picture 50 feet by 210 feet being used by the wrong person and no one caring.
Same in the Grove. For some reason the developers are not required to build sidewalks on the lots. The reasoning being something to do with driveways although they do have to have curb cuts for said driveway. This whole thing griped me for years after the last housing crisis while walking in through the unsold lots around town. Back on subject, the builders do actually start the sidewalks at the property line. I'm not saying it is right on the mark but it will give you a place to start looking for a pin around.
I really wish we could set the front pins on an offset in the curb. They would be way more useful for the landowner. Most do not really care where the right-of-way starts.
The rod would be tossed aside.
Same here. Regular old lot 75'x100' (big buck "estate" lot in FL) Both front corners always dug out for water on one side, sewer lateral on the other one. Always have to be reset at final. (at the builder clients expense)?ÿ ?????ÿ
I really wish we could set the front pins on an offset in the curb.?ÿ They would be way more useful for the landowner.?ÿ Most do not really care where the right-of-way starts.
They do that in Clark County, WA quite a bit. Offset on the projection of side lot lines at random distances off the right of way line. Handy for the homeowner, I suppose. If the city ever wants to do something within the right of way they are going to have a hard time convincing people that those curb cuts don't mark their front property lines.?ÿ
Better than nothing for the surveyor. But they can be a real handful to use, and more particularly to document, in a retracement. So I'm not all that enthusiastic about them.?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ
I worked as a grade-hop for an asphalt company one year. I used my 76 impala, gurley transit and wye level with a rag tape and 12' rod. I also carried a 100' hose and a steelhead rod for spirals.
I was in over my head but man did I learn some stuff...
Best post ever
@paden-cash No his first name is Lou.
I really wish we could set the front pins on an offset in the curb.?ÿ They would be way more useful for the landowner.?ÿ Most do not really care where the right-of-way starts.
Cuts are set in sidewalks all the time here in Ontario.?ÿ Usually just as an offset from the actual bar; sometimes as the actual monument if the building is close/on the property boundary.?ÿ It's why we generally set a cut TEE instead of a cut CROSS for control; it prevents confusion as to it being a monument.