Compass
I really appreciate all the help you guys have given me. The sarcasm not so much " using a compass to find a phone book". The gentlemen that actually took the time to explain the answers to my questions and not assume I was just trying to avoid paying a surveyor , thank you. I think I have accumulated enough info. to look for and get a good idea as to where my boundaries are and which way the angles go. Not go marking and moving pins.
If I ever get on a forum for installing, repairing,testing and maintaining high voltage underground power lines ll be sure to answer any questions someone has without being cute and sarcastic.
thanks again to those that took the time to help educate.......
Compass
Fo,
Please forgive the sarcasm in some of the posts, it sort of comes with the territory. There was troll posing a somewhat similar question on this forum recently that took everyone for quite the ride. While very entertaining, it made some us of us wonder why we even bother. Cheers!
All the bearings and distances are on the plat. The lot appears to include the area within the road right-of-way.
I was just getting ready to point out that it is centerline distances, not along the road lines. Good luck with that one for any layperson to figure out, especially with such a goofy shaped lot.
I hope the guy does himself a favor and really does hire a surveyor before he builds anything. Alternatively, the adjoiner who disagrees with his locations and DOES hire a surveyor. Then ole' Fo will be moving his fence.
As they say...pay now or pay later.
Compass
If you go out with a compass, you might adjust a little for the magnetic declination as some mentioned. I found this site to help figure out how much to adjust your bearings for the Mag. declination. http://magnetic-declination.com/ . Some high-quality compasses actually allow you to dial in the declination so you are reading bearings with it adjusted out (but you still need to look it up to dial it in). I would assume that the bearings on your plat are based on north-pole north unless they specifically state they are compass north (magnetic north). The minutes and seconds are virtually immaterial when reading a compass with the needle kind of bouncing around, and the small graduations.
I am sure one will find sarcastic remarks at many other sites. I guess it's human nature to a certain extent.
Compass
Well, no offense, Foduddy, but would you want to be installing those high powered lines just anywhere, or would you expect to have a professional surveyor on your team to make sure you're putting them in the right place?
Your property isn't the simplest sort of "cookie cutter" rectangle, and we can easily see the problems that a layperson will encounter trying to make sense of the field conditions. Especially since you don't have a good grasp of bearings by your first question.
Seriously, good luck. If you are contesting some work by your neighbor, you won't have a leg to stand on in any court if you DIY your boundary work.
Andy
edit... Your neighbors house looks pretty sweet. I bet he spent a pretty penny for all that updating. My guess is he had a real surveyor come out..
> I really hope you guys can help me here. I purchased this property a year ago and with my neighbors actions recently I need to find and verify the rear corners and west and east boundaries.
> In the picture I have included, my lot is in yellow. How do I get bearings from those numbers (N 63 07 30 E note: my keyboard does not have a degrees character to put in)could you explain what these are and how to use a compass to get the angle.
A bearing is the acute angle formed off the meridian.
But a compass isn't the right tool for this, even supposing you have one of the very expensive ones graduated to 30 seconds of arc, and know how to use it well (which seems doubtful in light of the question).
You need to call a surveyor, if only to have a legal leg to stand on if any discrepancies are found. A professional earns his keep.
The 0186 code is the masculine ordinal indicator, according to http://www.unicode.org/review/pri181/
When writing numbers like first and second with numerals, in English we write 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Sometimes the letters are raised. When the letters are raised, their considered ordinal indicators. I guess some languages have masculine and feminine forms, but I never really figured out gender in non-English languages. (No one on the forum knows me well enough to tell if I have it figured out for English.)
In my previous life as an integrated circuit designer, it wasn't enough for CAD to look right; it had to be right in every detail. If two lines were supposed to meet, but there was a separation of 0.0001 mm and it slipped through the checking, the automated manufacturing of masks would go bonkers and a new mask would have to be made at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. So I tend to be particular about using the right code for symbols. (On the other hand, typographers have special symbols for prime and double prime that are ever so slightly different from the straight single quote and straight double quote found on normal keyboards, but I'll be darned if I'm going to type obscure 4-digit codes for minutes and seconds.)
Given the apparent age of the plat, the bearings may easily be based on an assumed datum, and only relevant for the purposes of description and/or mathematical closure.
In that case the compass would be of practically no value at all.
interesting. It sure looked like a degree symbol to me. 😉 (I'll go to the 0176 code from now on). (I hope my "smiley-winky face" doesn't mean something else I don't udnerstand).
Thanks for the clarification, ashton.
Compass
The poster may have better results by using a tape to search for the corner irons.
The easterly line is perpendicular to the center of the north road by record. If the lot line between lots 48 and 49 is evident establish a start point by lining down that line and the center road to the NE. Look in the road in that location. Some mark may be on the surface within a couple of feet.
Measure down the middel of the raod to the NE 174 ft to the NE strly corner of lot 16. Once again look in the road for a mark on the surface. Establish the perpendicular line by measuring out a 3 -4 - 5 proportional triangle. ie 30-40-50. One of the shorter legs needs to be on the center road line.
Measure down the perpendicular line 206 ft. to the SE strly corner. At this location a tile spade may work the best for prodding the soil after you call before you dig. You should make your search area in about a two to three ft radius around the preliminary location.
Go back to the point of beginning and measure down the center of the road to the SW 123.5 ft. Check the surface for a mark.
From that point swing a measured arc 81 ft. to the SW in an approx. direction of the lot line. It doesn't have to be exact. set a couple temporary stakes on the arc.
Now measure 324 ft from the SE strly corner toward the temporary stakes and intersect that staked arc. This is the search area for the SW strly corner.
...or call a surveyor.
good luck.
Compass
Andy .. easy easy, if you read my original post again you will see why i made the comment i did. Im not asking anyone here to tell me how to cheat the system and allow me to bypass using a surveyor. Im also not building a fence I may have to take down(not sure who made that comment) Im also not in a feud with my neighbor I merely wanted to understand how to read and find angles to walk my property lines and know where they are. Alot of guys here got that, and for that Im grateful. I love learning new things.
thanks again all.
ps. Goat stake???????????????
Compass
A goat stake is Surveyor forum slang for a steel or iron rebar driven into the ground which is used to tie up the goat and is mistaken for a monument set be a Surveyor.
Compass
I am a sleep deprived parent who puts in well over 70 every week. I also think I am funny.
I was a juror once. The clerk gave us a tour and pointed to the cod hanging from the ceiling. 'They say it points north but I brought in a compass and it does not point north.'. In his several decades of working under the cod I was the first to explain the mysteries of a planet constantly moving.
I would assume you have seen an amateur attempt to do something with wires. I would assume you have had to fix it. Every surveyor has had to work with some messed up data created by an owner, a realtor, or an attorney. Of course if you recall euclidean geometry and can apply it properly you can be your own surveyor. Good luck.
> A bearing is the acute angle formed off the meridian.
:good:
What a simple, concise way to word it.
Goat Stake
I always say there's no harm in a landowner trying to find his own boundaries on their own. It is a common practice in my area for landowners to walk their boundaries and know their own land.
The "goat stake" term is a reference to a piece of iron found in the ground that someone assumes is a Survey Marker but in reality is just a goat stake.
Compass
"....and with my neighbors actions recently I need to find and verify the rear corners and west and east boundaries."
That's what made me comment about your neighbor, from your OP.
Finding and "Verifying" are two totally different things.
Compass
ok
Dear Foduddy
Our (land surveyors) problem with your question can be summed up with a query of our own, "How will you verify your property corners when you are neither mentally nor legally capable of doing so?
I am not insulting you when I say this, as I would say the same thing to Albert Einstein.
To properly verify a boundary corner requires training of several years (by someone who has already proven his expertise to an entity responsible for protecting the public's interest in these matters) AND then passing a very thorough and fairly difficult examination himself.
You do not possess the tools to properly do this. Hire someone who does. In the end, you will sleep better.
Sincerely,
Jack Chiles
The corner is the corner...
But Jack, the Realtor said that the iron pipe was the corner...
I would be more concerned that the lay person will inadvertently change a boundary with an oral agreement. This raises real issues:
1. Can you actually change a boundary in the jurisdiction without a survey?
2. Will this help or hurt either of the owners? In all likelihood it will help one and hurt the other, but if they cannot make a straight line, then it could help and hurt both.
3. Will they record, file or otherwise put the world on notice of the agreed boundary? How else would a surveyor know about it?
4. Does this mean I was a fool to hire an electrician and a contractor to put my electric service underground? I could have saved $5k by doing it myself.
