...which side do you fall on?
The thread on 'Land Dispute Shooting' got me thinking.
In its simplest form, a boundary survey depicts the limits of one's title. On occasion, a surveyor must rely on old lines that have been established for over 200 years. Other times, he or she may be creating new lines. It is important to note that without older, established and relied upon boundary lines, new boundaries could never be created. Thus, surveyors are mediators, in a small window of time, between the distant past and the future.
I have been involved in land surveying since I was 15. This has provided me with a little over 17 years of experience in the field. When I was younger, I believed a boundary line to be a division line or an entity that separated one thing from another...his from hers and mine from yours.
As I've grown, I've come to understand a boundary line as not this at all. A boundary line is a common line shared between two parties. A boundary line is where two different entities come together as one. A boundary line is a shared line. A boundary line is rooted in history and is projected forever into the future.
Have a great Wednesday!
Carry on.
I used to think of boundaries as sharply defined lines. Now I think of them as fuzzy transition zones.
That fuzzy transition zone is when the owner doesn't know exactly where the line is, never had it surveyed, and has never seen the corner marker, and is happy with where the adjoining owners occupation is.......
That sharp line is when it is surveyed, the line is marked, the corners are obvious, and the neighbor better quit mowing on over the line>>>
I like the way you think. Working on it.
N
I was mocked on this board a few years ago for asking the hypothetical question "How wide is your property line?"
In our business we like to think that we are working in hundredth's of a foot, shoot some of you I've see put down distances to the thousandth of a foot (pretty hot surveying, but how do you justify the expense to your client?) so to us it's a very small width line.
However, many times when we stake property lines, and we do several each week here at OLS, we find the area between lots to be overgrown, thick with briars, and frequently up to 20' in width! To these property owners that's about how wide their property line is, on the ground. Because they don't know it any better than that, until someone wants to change things and landscape to the edge of "their" land.
I always remind our clients that it is not "their" property line but a shared line dividing interests. That's why we're a couple of hundred feet down the road location control, because we're not really just surveying their land, but the neighborhood. We are not going to resolve all the potential issues throughout the 'hood' but we will resolve theirs, and the shared lines between neighbors.
So I ask again, How wide is your property line?
Dtp
An old timer (surveyor) told me 30å± years ago that boundary lines float, I laughed at the time but have grown to see the wisdom in this statement
Jim
Steven Roessner, post: 327485, member: 9988 wrote: That sharp line is when it is surveyed, the line is marked, the corners are obvious, and the neighbor better quit mowing on over the line>>>
Even in that case two surveyors marking the same line, and both doing their work without error, would come up with slightly different numbers and mark a slightly different line. And both would be right.
Agree with JB's concept.
That's what helps in any boundary dispute where a suspicious "other owner" has concerns "I'm working for him" (as in that other person- the 2 obviously don't get on)
I can confidently tell both parties the boundary is my concern of which they both have a common interest, so that implies my concern is likewise for both parties, not just my client.
It helps dissipate any heat, suspicion in most cases.
foggyidea, post: 327497, member: 155 wrote: I was mocked on this board a few years ago for asking the hypothetical question "How wide is your property line?"
In our business we like to think that we are working in hundredth's of a foot, shoot some of you I've see put down distances to the thousandth of a foot (pretty hot surveying, but how do you justify the expense to your client?) so to us it's a very small width line.
However, many times when we stake property lines, and we do several each week here at OLS, we find the area between lots to be overgrown, thick with briars, and frequently up to 20' in width! To these property owners that's about how wide their property line is, on the ground. Because they don't know it any better than that, until someone wants to change things and landscape to the edge of "their" land.
I always remind our clients that it is not "their" property line but a shared line dividing interests. That's why we're a couple of hundred feet down the road location control, because we're not really just surveying their land, but the neighborhood. We are not going to resolve all the potential issues throughout the 'hood' but we will resolve theirs, and the shared lines between neighbors.
So I ask again, How wide is your property line?
Dtp
I have explained it to clients that some lines are as thin as piano wire and some are many many feet thick.
foggyidea, post: 327497, member: 155 wrote: I was mocked on this board a few years ago for asking the hypothetical question "How wide is your property line?" ...
So I ask again, How wide is your property line?
Dtp
How big is your point?
Robert Hill, post: 327521, member: 378 wrote: How big is your point?
336 dimples on a golf ball.
Robert Hill, post: 327521, member: 378 wrote: How big is your point?
How wide is your lathe?
We do quarter sections routinely by only marking the corners. No one cares too much about the connecting lines all that much most of the time. There is a fence or tree line or general area of waste ground that appears to be the boundary line that generally satisfies the adjoiners. I'm finishing up a small job to cut 10 acres from a quarter section that is the exception to this rule. The fence/tree line that everyone has been happy with for many years does not conform to a straight line from the quarter corner to the center corner of the section. Within the first 1000 feet from the west end the fence diverges about 16 feet to the north. It stays fairly parallel to the line for another 800 feet then widens to about 20 feet of gap at the east end of the half mile stretch. So when we placed our monument about 16 feet from the fence there were plenty of questions. A big one involved the fact that the current owners (my clients), while noting they have been using the neighbors' land for decades, are concerned the neighbors' might discover the difference between the true line and the fence line. Then I pointed out that the neighbors' had a survey done over 10 years ago and that plat clearly showed them what was happening. Since they haven't come knocking in that 10 year period it is somewhat unlikely they are planning to do so any time soon. The cost to clear the area and construct a new fence would be more than the current value of the net area gained as this is typical pasture land with minimal likelihood of being developed.
