Finding property lines

[bones1]

What would a surveyor use to find my property lines?.
Is this something I can do myself.There are no property markers that I can find.Has anyone been successful doing this themselves?

 

[scott_vt]

What would a surveyor use to find my property lines?.
Is this something I can do myself.There are no property markers that I can find.Has anyone been successful doing this themselves?

Hi Bones,
Even if you did find some markers, stonewalls, steel pins etc you would still need a surveyor to accurately mark out the remainder of the property. If by chance you could find a marker or two that would give you a start, providing you have a copy of the property map from town records, to find the rest of the boundaries. If you cant find anything at all I would think you would need a surveyor, and you may as well have him use steel pins to define your property. Best to find one and get a price quote IMHO.

 

[Paddy]

This is a prety open question without some basic land description and what your tring to do.

In the country your pins can be in the middle of the street. Some go a head and set pins just off the road. I use a metal detector to find the pins streetside. Then look at your legal description. Simple geometry like 92 deg east for 238 ft. I have used a compus to get me in a general direction. Then I pull out the metal detector again. I found all my pins this way and my land is heavy foest 660' x 1500'. to find points in between is bit more fun. At night have two friends help. They will need cell phones and flash lights. You stand at one known pin, say street side. Friend 1# stand back at the corner pin on the same line. Second friend locates approx half way between the pins. Friend 1# and 2#turns on their lights. call the middle friend , 2# to instruct him to move left or right. When the lights are lined up, you have found a point on the line. Good enough for general use.

 

[MikePA]

I used to work for a civil engineer. One of the services he offered was property surveys, which is what I got involved in, from the field work to the plans. Here are the steps.

1. Get current deed of your property.
2. Get older deeds of your property, if available.
3. Do the same for all deeds that adjoin your property.
4. Make sure your deed 'closes'
5. Compare all the deeds to make sure the directions and distances match.
6. If they don't, figure out why and try to determine which directions and distances are correct.
7. Perform field work to find existing markers and place new ones.

Typically, deeds begin with a phrase "Starting at a point...." We'd try and find this point first. Sometimes it's measuring from landmarks, other property lines, etc. These days it might mean using a GPS to find the point. If the starting point can not be found, we have to measure from a known point then traverse to get to the property being surveyed. Also, if one of your property line(s) is a road, the line probably runs down the center of the road. (This is true in PA, perhaps not where you live).

Can you do this yourself? Yep. All the documents I mentioned above are available at the county courthouse at the Recorder of Deeds office.

You didn't state why you want to do this, which would be helpful in answering if it's wise to do this yourself.

 

[Egon]

In Canada you would require a survey licence for any work of legal status.

Egon

 

[bones1]

I used to work for a civil engineer. One of the services he offered was property surveys, which is what I got involved in, from the field work to the plans. Here are the steps.

1. Get current deed of your property.
2. Get older deeds of your property, if available.
3. Do the same for all deeds that adjoin your property.
4. Make sure your deed description 'closes'
5. Compare all the deeds to make sure the directions and distances match.
6. If they don't, figure out why and try to determine which directions and distances are correct.
7. Perform field work to find existing markers and place new ones.

Typically, deeds begin with a phrase "Starting at a point...." We'd try and find this point first. Sometimes it's measuring from landmarks, other property lines, etc. These days it might mean using a GPS to find the point. If the starting point can not be found, we have to measure from a known point then traverse to get to the property being surveyed. Also, if one of your property line(s) is a road, the line probably runs down the center of the road. (This is true in PA, perhaps not where you live).

Can you do this yourself? Yep. All the documents I mentioned above are available at the county courthouse at the Recorder of Deeds office.

You didn't state why you want to do this, which would be helpful in answering if it's wise to do this yourself.

So I can get a copy of my neighbors deed?What do you mean by "Make sure your deed 'closes'
Just want to know where the property lines are.I think I have someones shed on my property.He was here first so maybe he's right.

 

[bones1]

Can you do this with a gps unit?

 

[MikePA]

So I can get a copy of my neighbors deed?What do you mean by "Make sure your deed 'closes'
Just want to know where the property lines are.I think I have someones shed on my property.He was here first so maybe he's right.

Here in PA, anyone can get a copy of a deed. All you need to know are the names of the owners. Look them up in a deed book and ask for a copy.

Making sure the description closes means that if you follow every direction and distance mentioned in the deed, you should end up exactly where you started. How good a deed description closes is determined by how much of a gap there is between where you started and where you finish. There are shareware, at least there used to be, products that all you enter are the direction and distances and it will show you a plot of the parcel, including how well it closes.

If there's a possibility of this ending up in someone moving a shed, I strongly suggest getting a licensed surveyor involved. Just because he was there first, doesn't mean he is right. It was not unusual for us to survey a parcel and determine that the lines everyone thought we correct were not, particularly if they were using landmarks like old stone walls, fences, creeks, etc.

A GPS unit can get you close, but if the shed is somewhere close to the line, I don't think GPSs are accurate enough. Maybe I am wrong, we never used them.

 

[EddieWalker]

Why are you trying to find your boundries?

If it's just curiosity or maybe putting up a fence, then you need to find the starting point. Either a survey or legal discription of the land will be needed. Surveys of the land may be tricky to get unless you know who did the last survey and they are willing to give or sell you a copy. Legal discriptions are public record and just cost a few bucks to have copies made. This is what I did.

Read the discription and determine where the beginning is and how to find it. You'll need a good way to measure distance and direction.

Even surveyors with training and the right gear will dig around in the dirt looking for pins. They know it's there, but I've seen holes a few feet away from the pin as they looked for it.

Most pins are pieces of half inch rebar, but he legal discription will say what it is. Sometimes it could be a piece of pipe, cement block, a tree, the middle of a creek or some other natural or man made landmark.

If you need to know where the boundries are for anything legal, then you have to hire it done. No way to do it yourself without a stamp to certify it as being true and a bond to insure it's accuracy.

Also remember that neighbors will sometime remove or move the pins to their advantage. Sometimes it's just a few feet, sometimes it's gone. Then they will pretend ignorance and get angry when you put it back. There are all sorts of threads of people here who have cemented in their survey markers to keep them from being removed.

Good luck
Eddie

 

[Paddy]

'Make sure your description closes' is the likely intended wording. It means you will return to the starting point.

For your needs, you want to see if there is an encrouchment. before to pay to see your wrong...or right, spend a few hours yourself. Check your own closing paper work. if the barn/building was there and encroching before you bought, it should show on your "morgage survey". Find your pins. I have 6 pc of land and I have never had a survey. I have located my pins and they match my descriptions....close enough. Then do the flash light trick. If you are sure there is a problem, you will need to make a dession, what do you want?. In my area they rearly have the structure torn down.