Surveyor question (goes along with HVAC!)

[Richard]

I was quoted $106/hour but they need to find an iron pin and might need to clear some of the land so they can see.

I said will try to find the pin and might take the bushog out there to knock most of it down. Problem with cutting back there is, since I don't know where the lines might be, I might (will!) cut in the wrong places.


Question on GPS if I may...

I'm holding this survey in my hands. There are numbers on it like:

S 10 (zero with line through it) 42'00"E
39.27'


Is there anything that I could purchase that would either read that out to me or somehow allow me to translate it to a location on the ground?

He said, without seeing my place, he'd speculate this to cost about $700 for them to shoot. If accurate AND if I could buy a GPS that would do this for same money... (I always prefer to buy the tool instead of paying to have it done)

 

[MarkV]

Richard I am wondering and some here on the forum may know, surveyors are accustom to having to be accurate within small margins which requires a lot of technology and detail research. If you are digging a trench to do nothing more than bury piping can the center line of your drive be determined, say +or- 3', at a cheaper rate? I am thinking that if your drive easement is 25' wide that should put you comfortably within the boundaries for a 2 or 3" wide trench.

Just reread your first post and you say the drive is only 25' long. Was that a typo? If not I would think you will have trouble putting in a 600' loop unless the easement if very wide.

MarkV

 

[Richard]

Musta been a type. It's 25' wide and the total area of it is equal to 1.2584 acres. So, what ever land mass equalaling 1.25 acres measured at 25' wide by ?? long is about how long it is.

I think I saw a 30' by about 1,400' stretch is about 1 acre so is this maybe pushing 2,000'??

plenty of room to lay the length down. I didn't think of your logic, though I like it I think I need two trenches? one for outgoing and circle it around for the return? This would give better seperation of the underground pipes. (my understanding, not saying it's right)

The HVAC guy said once I know where I want to put it they will mark out where it has to be dug.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I was quoted $106/hour but they need to find an iron pin and might need to clear some of the land so they can see.

I said will try to find the pin and might take the bushog out there to knock most of it down. Problem with cutting back there is, since I don't know where the lines might be, I might (will!) cut in the wrong places.


Question on GPS if I may...

I'm holding this survey in my hands. There are numbers on it like:

S 10 (zero with line through it) 42'00"E
39.27'


Is there anything that I could purchase that would either read that out to me or somehow allow me to translate it to a location on the ground?

He said, without seeing my place, he'd speculate this to cost about $700 for them to shoot. If accurate AND if I could buy a GPS that would do this for same money... (I always prefer to buy the tool instead of paying to have it done)

I just paid $140 /hr for 2 man field crew, $65 /hr for office work for a survey.

Your line is 10 degree, 42 min, 00 sec 39.27 feet long, measured South to East. Subtract from 90 to get E to S angle. It's the angle of the line.

 

[toddbailey]

Musta been a type. It's 25' wide and the total area of it is equal to 1.2584 acres. So, what ever land mass equalaling 1.25 acres measured at 25' wide by ?? long is about how long it is.

I think I saw a 30' by about 1,400' stretch is about 1 acre so is this maybe pushing 2,000'??

plenty of room to lay the length down. I didn't think of your logic, though I like it I think I need two trenches? one for outgoing and circle it around for the return? This would give better seperation of the underground pipes. (my understanding, not saying it's right)

The HVAC guy said once I know where I want to put it they will mark out where it has to be dug.

Richard I have been in the surveying bus. for 10+ years the quote for 106 an hr sounds legit to me my best advice is to tell you to let a surveyor do the job for you provide him metal "t" fence post to put on the line and be prepared if he doesnt find the irons or the angles & distances dont match he will have to survey the whole property or refuse to do the job so it could end up costing you a bundle

 

[Richard]

Your line is 10 degree, 42 min, 00 sec 39.27 feet long, measured South to East. Subtract from 90 to get E to S angle. It's the angle of the line.

Ok, now THIS finally tells me something very interesting (even if it only confirms to me that I don't know my hiney from a door knob )

Now that I see this translation, is there a tool that a home owner could buy/use to get this approximated?

Not mentioned yet is, there are actually THREE of these 'phantom driveways' going through the woods. One is mine, adjacent is my wifes cousin (next door) and adjacent to that is her fathers.

We have a 75' swath through the woods to the paved road, marked as individual 25' drives. NO ONE will ever willingly put a drive there since we all have a gravel road to our homes coming in from the other direction, complete with easements.

It has been discussed quietly to "just find the 75' swath and use what you need" although I personally think if I can find my own driveway I need to use it. No sense in creating problems down the road for the next home owners.

 

[Richard]

my best advice is to tell you to let a surveyor do the job for you provide him metal "t" fence post to put on the line and be prepared if he doesnt find the irons or the angles & distances dont match he will have to survey the whole property or refuse to do the job so it could end up costing you a bundle

Thank you Todd. Question... would you think it makes MORE sense for me to call the guy who originally surveyed the land? If there are pins missing it's because he didn't install them

Downside is, he's 50 miles away instead of 15 like some of these others.

I'm trying to find a metal detector so I can find one/more of the pins. I think if I DO find them I might paint them flourescent green/orange and maybe even put a stake near them.

Question II: I like your idea of T posts however they'd be in my way while driving the backhoe up there (not big deal)... the driveway is "sort of" straight. There are no sharp turns in it but maybe like a dogs leg with more bends in it... Would you put a post at each bend in the dogleg or only at distinct (90 degree type) turns?

 

[toddbailey]

Thank you Todd. Question... would you think it makes MORE sense for me to call the guy who originally surveyed the land? If there are pins missing it's because he didn't install them

Downside is, he's 50 miles away instead of 15 like some of these others.

I'm trying to find a metal detector so I can find one/more of the pins. I think if I DO find them I might paint them flourescent green/orange and maybe even put a stake near them.

Question II: I like your idea of T posts however they'd be in my way while driving the backhoe up there (not big deal)... the driveway is "sort of" straight. There are no sharp turns in it but maybe like a dogs leg with more bends in it... Would you put a post at each bend in the dogleg or only at distinct (90 degree type) turns?

no problem anytime

most of the time it does pay to contact the original surveyor he is familiar with property and already has the court house research and other materials in office

if you find any of the pins do put a "t" post beside it and paint it orange just remember not to drive the post to close to the pin (couple of inches away is good)

i would put the post at every bend

 

[dooleysm]

Musta been a type. It's 25' wide and the total area of it is equal to 1.2584 acres. So, what ever land mass equalaling 1.25 acres measured at 25' wide by ?? long is about how long it is.

I think I saw a 30' by about 1,400' stretch is about 1 acre so is this maybe pushing 2,000'??

plenty of room to lay the length down. I didn't think of your logic, though I like it I think I need two trenches? one for outgoing and circle it around for the return? This would give better seperation of the underground pipes. (my understanding, not saying it's right)

The HVAC guy said once I know where I want to put it they will mark out where it has to be dug.

The trench for my system was 300' long, 2' wide, 6' deep. They went out and back with the loop in the same trench. The closed loop system is filled with water and some other stuff. Likely something with a lower freezing point and possibly with some other lubricating or other desireable properties.

 

[dmccarty]

Richard,

I forgot to mention this about geothermal. Years ago, maybe 2002-2004 there was an article in either Journal of Light Construction(JLC) or Fine Home Building about geothermal HVAC. The article was written by a man out of Apex, NC. I know the JLC web site will allow you to search for an article and read a summary. You have to pay a fee to read the article or join the website. Not sure what Fine Home Building handles their old articles.

In the article they just dug one trench for the lines. The first thing that pops into my head is that they buried the half of the line going into the house at the bottom of the trench. The half of the line leaving the house was higher in the trench. Seems strange once I think about it from an installation point of view....

I have put TPosts to mark our corner pins. I swear I put some up on the east side of our land and someone stole them.

Regarding using a GPS to find the line. Maybe. I have used our GPS to kinda find the line. But I only need to sorta find the line between pins. I just want to clear out the brush to get a sight line from pin to pin. I don't think the neighbors will care if I cut up a Russion Olive invasive plant on their land by mistake. For putting in something like a geothermal line I would pay the surveyor to find the line unless I was danged sure of the location. Our GPS in heavy forest might be accurate to 10ish feet or so. But that is plus minus. So I could be 10 feet on THEIR land or 10 feet on my land.

Later,
Dan