Property fencing question....

[oosik]

I didn't think of using the original surveyor but it certainly makes sense and then you know exactly where the line is. I certainly hope you don't have the type of neighbor where you have to hold 2' off the line. My 80 acres is fenced and was originally surveyed in 1892. A recent survey of nearby property required back survey to my SE corner which is a section corner. The survey team found the original survey marks carved into a long dead pine stump dated 1892 - it was a very interesting look at history.

 

[dave1949]

I surveyed for 43 years here in North Carolina. The easiest and quickest is to just hire the person that did the survey to come back and mark your PL for fence building. He has his notes and reference points to work off of. This will just be some labor charges since he will not be making a map.

This is what I would do too. My lot sounds much like the OP's, trees and ups and downs. I have a decent theodolite but over that distance, a slight error in turning to the angle where you think the far pin is, will put you off a long ways. It could be done working from both ends, meeting on the rises, find your error, reset and repeat until you have a consistent straight line, but it won't be easy and you need a decent instrument to even begin.

It's usually not legal to cut a tree straddling a property line without the permission of the other owner. Unless you and the neighbor agree to remove all the trees, I would leave the line trees and cut everything else on your side on the line, then run the fence next to the line trees.

A surveyor can blaze those trees as permanent boundary markers. The blaze is made on the tree trunk according to where the line passes through it. As long as you freshen the blazes every 3-5 years, you will always know where the line actually is.

 

[SSdoxie]

I had a blind corner I couldn't see and came across this by accident. Those bright colored "swim tubes" found at Walmart and other discount stores have the same ID hole in center as the top rail for chain link fence (usually sold in 10" lengths). Take 3 pieces of top rail, cut one in half @ 5' drive that in ground at each pin, then slide swim tube over a 10' piece of the top rail and insert it in the piece driven in the ground. That will give you visibility of each pin about 14' above ground. Works great if you don't thick brush that tall you can't see through.

 

[dmccarty]

If you are going to build a fence, you need to know the location of the line. I have tried to use a compass and a GPS to ROUGHLY know the location of my property line. It sorta works but NO WAY would I put up a fence based on what I have done.

I had some of our lines remarked when we were building the house and one property line with a neighbor has a pin at the high point of the grade. It came in real handy when the neighbor built a fence without knowing the location of the property line...

In hindsight I should have had more than one pin added to the line and my bigger mistake was not having the time to keep the line cleared after the survey.

The cost in time and money to move an existing fence is chump change compared to getting the line located correctly before building said fence.

Errrr, what I meant was, "The cost in time and money getting the line located correctly, before building said fence, is chump change compared to moving an existing fence."

Later,
Dan

 

[smstonypoint]

The cost in time and money to move an existing fence is chump change compared to getting the line located correctly before building said fence.

Dan,

I think you have this bassackwards. I think you meant to say that the cost of having the line marked is chump change relative to the cost of moving a fence.

Steve

 

[buickanddeere]

Aerial images . Line up on obvious land marks.

 

[dmccarty]

Dan,

I think you have this bassackwards. I think you meant to say that the cost of having the line marked is chump change relative to the cost of moving a fence.

Steve

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

Why yes, I think I did get it back butt wards. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I guess that is what happens when trying to do too much at one time before coffee. Or is it my gray hair showing? :shocked:

Later,
Dan

 

[bravo2zero]

I do about 2-3 inches off the line. This way the other land owner doesn't have the right to tie into my fence to attach to his fence. You can then take stakes every 250 ft or so with markers that display your name, you can even order markers with your name on them I have a neighbor from **** and back. Has been using everyone's land for decades and now that others and myself have been buying it up, he still thinks he has rights, when he doesn't even own the land, just a real pain in the rear.

 

[JamesHW]

What is the purpose of the fence, just to mark the lot line? I have just shy of 80 acres with some challenging topography (including a 50 foot deep, 100+ wide ravine that bisects the SE corner) so other than posting, I have no interest in going to the expense and trouble of fencing the lot line. I know within a few feet where my line is after consulting aerial & Satellite photos, overlaying topographic maps on plat maps in Photoshop, traversing the line and finding marks, including some old slashes on border trees and well marked paint marks where it borders on the South side with some NY State land and of course the corner posts (capped galvanized pipes in my case from a 1960's survey). So this has allowed me to be fairly accurate in posting the line which is on three sides all heavily forested. The Western line which has a number of oddly sized lots (each 2 acre or so) is more problematic, so I have been more conservative on posted sign placement so as to not inadvertently place on someone's back line. We are in the process of clearing some acres for agricultural purposes and I plan on a good deer fence for that area, but there will be a wide forested buffer between the cleared areas and the property line.

But to go to the considerable expense of a border fence on a large forested lot (survey costs, fence materials & time) without other mitigating circumstances (such as a neighbor improving his land up to the line) I don't see the benefit.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Just finished having our 80 acres surveyed here in South West Virginia. $ 8,500 got me everything... old logging roads I've turned into trails, driveway, house, shop, creek, and all lines marked 50 ft with 5 ft metal stakes, and filed at the court house. Even got a real nice aerial photo with property lines depicted. Yes, it was a lot of money, but there will NEVER be any question as to what I own and where it is.