[june02bug]

We closed about a month ago on our new place.. those survey stakes with ribbon on them are all that is marking the corners. They will be starting to build on the 5 acres behind us this month... so I need to get a more permanent marker down before these stakes are run over of pulled up or whatever... What have you guys done? What can you recommend? There is no fence yet. The last owner started with the corners but didn't finish. The started corners are NOT the property line corners and we will not be using those started corners when we build our fence.

 

[Terri]

If you look closely at the ground, you will see a flat metal disk at the base of the stakes. That is the true property line.

I drove metal fence posts to mark my corners. DH says he is going to come back with brightly colored spray paint and make them VERY visible. Sounds good to me!

 

[Mullers Lane Farm]

Around here corners are marked with metal posts pounded into the ground that can still be detected years later with a metal detector. Check on local code before you put up a fence. Sometimes you can not put your fence right on the boundary line.

 

[june02bug]

I don't remember seeing any metal disks. In fact one of them has already been knocked half way down and picked back up.
My thoughts were to put fence posts in and paint the top with bright colored paint. Unless I can get a better idea here. The two corners I am mostly concerned about are the front left one which is the corner of a grove. People drive down the edge of it working in the grove and such. That is the one that has been knocked half down already. The second corner that I am concerned about is the corner that is the back right one which is basically marking the end of the other places driveway and the back of ours. The other place is a flag shaped parcel. Once they start coming in with equipment and such that one will be smashed I'm sure.

 

[june02bug]

Should I cement them in? I just want something to stay in that spot so it can be found years later. should I dig a post hole and fill that with concrete?? So that it is just concrete there in a hole in the ground or bury a metal stake there? Maybe I should call the survey company and ask what they recommend for this area?

I don't want to put the fence right on the property line on the outside. But on the inside??? I just don't want the neighbors to "take" part of our land.

 

[SteveD(TX)]

Most of the time a surveyor will either find, or place, a more permanent marker at the corners. Look at your survey. At the corners you may see: IRS (iron rod set), IRF (iron rod found), axle found, etc. If not, set something that is permanent and if above ground, very visible. Surveyors sometimes use a metal detector to find the old markers and go by what is already there.

 

[marisal]

My dad gave us old car axles to put in the ground. We pound them into the ground and spray paint the tops a bright color. You can drive over them, mow over them, and they stay put.

My dad junks a lot of cars, so we always have access to them.

~Marisa

 

[Bob in WI]

A 10' piece of galvanized pipe driven into the ground, just on your side of the marker, about 4 feet and painted on the top 6' for visibility woked for 25 years for us before we sold the place. It was nice to show the prospective buyers exactly where the corners of the property were. It was easy to find the markers, they were so happy they didn't have to pay for a survey. We were too. We both saved a lot of money by doing this .

 

[june02bug]

Thanks Steve. I'll look for that when I get home. Only one person/family lived here before us... before that it was a grove here 8-10 years ago. So there isn't anything old in the ground to mark it I don't think. Thanks everyone.

 

[Shrek]

Metal fence post driven on the inside of the survey numbered stob and a concrete drain tile dropped around the post to encirle the numbered marker to keep it from being over grown.

 

[quietstar]

Most surveyors I employ set about 10 inches of rebar for new or missing corners. These are easily knocked out by any equipment or pulled up by anyone. My practice is to get about 18 inches of 1 1/2 inch steel pipe, paint the top with a visable color, place around the small pins and drive into the ground until only a couple of inches show.

My experience has taught me to place fences so that they touch the property lines. A setback fence may raise questions of a possible boundary dispute in the future from a nit=picking title company. Good luck with your land....Glen

 

[fordy]

Take a tractor back there and dig a 9 inch diameter hole , 3 feet deep and CEMENT an 8 foot long by 3 inch outside diameter pipe . If you don't mark "YOUR" corners then you have, by default , allowed your future Neighbors to install any kind of Worthless type of fencing material that suits their interest and maynot suit yours. Even if , you have NO intention of constructing your back fence immediately, you should still install heavy steel pipe on your corners to ensure that WHEN you do build your back fence the "corners will BELONG TO YOU!!!! It makes a BIG difference down the Road believe me. These pipe corners are the very essence of a strong fence regardless of whatever Type you decide to build. ..............fordy :worship:

 

[bare]

IF your property has been properly surveyed, you will find proper and legal monuments at each one of your corners with an RLS number or some such that will identify the surveyor. If your property was surveyed by joe, down the road apiece with his compass and pacing, you are in for some surprises down the road.

IF your property has been properly surveyed, there will not only be a record of such survey at the county courthouse, but each and every corner will be metal, with an identifying cap and will be referenced to immovable objects, such as roads, live trees, or what not, and referenced in the notes.

If your corners are wood, there is not a legal survey on your property and is probably whatever the neighbor and the realestate person that sold you your property agreed too over a few beers in the local tavern.

 

[george darby]

being in construction the joke is the I in IRS,IPF stands for invisable........ just watch the same surveyer who set the pin try to find it latter...........a tall iorn fence post ,or solid iorn axle driven deep beside the property marker pin makes it easy to find........ its such a relief to find a painter red post stricking up that i can see hundreds of feet away when i am looking for a yellow pin the size of a quarter driven flush with the ground ,wandering back and forth acrost where i think the line should be
existing fences are not always a help... lots of devils fences where it was easyer to build rather than on the actual line
, mark it good for your benifit and the neighbors

 

[Mr. Grimebuster]

I worked on a survey crew for three years. We set 18" iron 5/8" iron rebar at each corner, which was easily knocked out. The idea of an axle was a good one, as was the one of setting a 3" iron pipe at the corner. First take 3 spikes or stakes and hammer into the ground around the corner, then measure exactly to the center of the monument so you have a refrence if you replace it with an axle or pipe. A little bit of difference is a whole lot over a quarter mile! Whatever you use, make sure it has a LOT of steel in it. A surveyor uses a metal detector to find the corners, and you want to make it sing if it gets within 5' of it. I would recommend driving a 6' teepost into the ground at each corner until only 3" is sticking out. Even if it is hit by a bulldozer, it will only bend the top foot or so, and a surveyor can dig down and find where it straightens to reset a corner. I would put the teepost every 50' down the property lines. Have a surveyor run the lines again, and set the teepost while he is there so he can shoot it in and note it on a plat. In our area, it cost $100-$200 to have a previously surveyed property redone. In louisiana, there is a 10 year prescription on property lines, which means after 10 years, if a fence line is uncontested, it becomes the new property line. Set the fence on the line, do'nt give away your land!
Jeff

 

[EricG]

Review the survey plat. It should call out what is at each corner for a monument either as set or found by the surveyor who did the survey. If you only have wooden pegs in the ground they are temporary and should have been replaced by permanent markers.

If you have rebar which is pretty typical, either with or without the surveyor stamped caps on top, it would be a good idea to add an additional witness post next to it and some protection to it without disturbing it. The monument even if it is only a wooden hub is the true corner and shouldn't be disturbed, but an additional pipe or heavy metal fence post driven deep into the ground next to it and painted bright orange is a great help in locating corners. Adding a concrete tile around it sounds like a good idea too. Anything that helps locate and protect the official monument.

I like to put lots of survey flagging around the trees surrounding the corner if its in the woods, saves a lot of effort if you can see the corner easy from a distance. Blazing and painting the line through woods is also a good idea and worth paying the surveyor for.

Eric

 

[june02bug]

Well I look at the survey and it does say SIR at all four corners. I think what I will do is get some pipe and cement it in. I want something that will be about fence high so it can be seen at a distance not 3 inches above ground.

 

[Runners]

I worked on a survey crew for three years. We set 18" iron 5/8" iron rebar at each corner, which was easily knocked out. The idea of an axle was a good one, as was the one of setting a 3" iron pipe at the corner. First take 3 spikes or stakes and hammer into the ground around the corner, then measure exactly to the center of the monument so you have a refrence if you replace it with an axle or pipe. A little bit of difference is a whole lot over a quarter mile! Whatever you use, make sure it has a LOT of steel in it. A surveyor uses a metal detector to find the corners, and you want to make it sing if it gets within 5' of it. I would recommend driving a 6' teepost into the ground at each corner until only 3" is sticking out. Even if it is hit by a bulldozer, it will only bend the top foot or so, and a surveyor can dig down and find where it straightens to reset a corner. I would put the teepost every 50' down the property lines. Have a surveyor run the lines again, and set the teepost while he is there so he can shoot it in and note it on a plat. In our area, it cost $100-$200 to have a previously surveyed property redone. In louisiana, there is a 10 year prescription on property lines, which means after 10 years, if a fence line is uncontested, it becomes the new property line. Set the fence on the line, do'nt give away your land!
Jeff

Jeff,
Is it common to hang out with a surveyor while they're working and just sink a tee post in every so often - as you're planning your fence? That sounds like a great idea! How much should they actually mark? Is it just the corners, and every so often along the sides, or whereever there's a curve or bend in the property line?

We bought a place in May that has not been officially surveyed. It was the remainder of an 88 acre parcel that had 2 other parcels "cut out", years before. The old fence appears here and there, crossing over a creek, over a hill, and ???? One of the neighbors said his corner is a big orange painted rock....??? On the other side, some guy from out of state (deer hunter), bought a sliver of land about a 100 yards wide and runs the length of our property.

We're getting ready to build fences. Should we get it surveyed and wait for the results, OR, as they survey, set posts every so often, OR just build and let 'time' set the property lines? It has been recorded in the deed book as such and such the remainder of 88 acres, etc.

And, those NUMBERS - is this some kind of trade secret, and the translations stored safely away from prying eyes??? I got a Garmin GPS, and can't seem to find anything that makes heads or tales from those numbers on the plat.
Bill

 

[Mike in Ohio]

Runners,

I wouldn't accept the fenceline and I wouldn't accept the neighbors orange stone. Get a survey done and be there when the surveyors are there. What I did was ask the surveyor to put some intermediate marks where the property line runs over a hill, etc. For placing posts on a fenceline I simply ran twine between the marker posts.

A good reason not to accept old fences as your propertyline is that in some states you can't place a line fence without both parties agreeing. In that case you must set the fence back from the propertyline a certain distance. My back fence (really old and in disrepair) is almost 5 feet within the property line. The fence was placed there when all the land was owned by the same person and it wasn't intended to mark the property line.

As usual, just my 2 cents.

Mike