Laser for fence layout > 1000ft

oosik · Jul 21, 2019

I would guess it depends upon how really "right on" one needs to be. My 80 acres is 1320 x 2640. I know the corners because of previous surveys by neighbors to divide their properties. I can see the distant corner. Set one corner post. Have a friend go out a couple hundred feet with fence post - sight it in and set it. Continue, every couple hundred feet, until entire line is set. Drive in all the intervening posts and stretch the barbed wire. Good enough.

Out here property is measured in miles - not inches. I know that most all property corners, out here, are set by survey. The intervening property line - not so much. The property lines are as straight as the eye can see. It's been this way since the original homesteads in 1892 and isn't likely to change any time soon.

fried1765 · Jul 21, 2019

oosik said:
I would guess it depends upon how really "right on" one needs to be. My 80 acres is 1320 x 2640. I know the corners because of previous surveys by neighbors to divide their properties. I can see the distant corner. Set one corner post. Have a friend go out a couple hundred feet with fence post - sight it in and set it. Continue, every couple hundred feet, until entire line is set. Drive in all the intervening posts and stretch the barbed wire. Good enough.

Out here property is measured in miles - not inches. I know that most all property corners, out here, are set by survey. The intervening property line - not so much. The property lines are as straight as the eye can see. It's been this way since the original homesteads in 1892 and isn't likely to change any time soon.

It all depends on where you are.
Surveyors typically measure to .01' in more populated areas.

BrokenTrack · Jul 21, 2019

I got a piece of property where there is no rightful way to tell where the lines are. It is all laid out by rock walls, so the distances are given as "250 feet, more or less, running southwesterly along said rock wall." Apparently the original surveyor assumed the rock walls would also be there, but they are long gone, so it is just a guess on the corner pins. You really cannot go by compass direction because no degrees or minutes were given, and distance as expressed as "more or less", which means nothing in surveying.

Around here the corner pins are typically properly placed, but the line markers are way off. Lines are never straight because as the original surveyors laid out the lines, if a nice stand of Pine or Spruce was to be on the other side of the line, the line tended to bow in or out to get the good stand of lucrative wood.

About once a year I am down to the Registry of Deeds and the women down there say, "well I have not seen that before." Some are court injunctions from the 1830's, some are water rights, private cemeteries, municipal dumps, life leases, power line rights of way, land once owned by the Federal Government, etc. It really is amazing the crazy crap I have here lurking in my deeds.

EddieWalker · Jul 21, 2019

I think that you are wasting your time and money trying to find a laser to replace using wire or string. I use a Bosch lazer for tile layout, and it's awesome, but it's indoors most of the time and distances are not very far. It also times out after ten minutes or so.

String is cheap, but it's not very good at being straight for very long because it breaks when you pull it too tight. Smooth wire such as high tensile or wire for electric fence is what I like the best. I can anchor it at my corner posts and pull it super tight so I have a straight line. Then I can measure it out for T posts, line posts, H bracing and gates in needed. When done, it's easy to roll up and use over and over again.

Sometimes, keeping it simple is the faster, cheaper and more reliable way to do things.

s

Diggin It · Jul 21, 2019

EddieWalker said:
Sometimes, keeping it simple is the faster, cheaper and more reliable way to do things.

'High' tech isn't always best.

K. I. S. S.

oosik · Jul 21, 2019

Years ago I worked for the Health Dept in an adjoining county. They bought a very expensive laser survey instrument - and NEVER used it. I found it one day - up in the attic. All anybody knew of this instrument - it was purchased with Federal Matching funds and nobody ever took the time to learn how to use it. Sad.

Industrial Toys · Jul 21, 2019

I hope you offered to clean out the attic.

Fuddy1952 · Jul 22, 2019

When I had my place surveyed, and same surveyor did my homeplace within last two years, they found original iron rods which I spray painted fluorescent orange. They used a GPS instrument that was highly accurate and marked every 50ft, flagged stake.
I put a treated post just inside iron rod, used it to site long distances corner to corner. I knew when handheld stick was in crosshairs it had to be right.

Fallon · Jul 22, 2019

Fuddy1952 said:
When I had my place surveyed, and same surveyor did my homeplace within last two years, they found original iron rods which I spray painted fluorescent orange. They used a GPS instrument that was highly accurate and marked every 50ft, flagged stake.
I put a treated post just inside iron rod, used it to site long distances corner to corner. I knew when handheld stick was in crosshairs it had to be right.

Similar to mine. They setup a differential GPS beakon in a random spot. They then took their fancy GPS reciever unit & marked out where the corners were. They then used a metal detector to find all 4 corner pins. All pins are where they should have been. They then walked the property line & stuck in sticks every 100' where the unit told them to. Suppose to be accurate within inches. All the sticks seem to line up like I'd expect.

Cost $400 if I recall & only took an hour or 2. Not cheap, but not to bad. Mine was only 5 acres with open sight lines from all the corners. Probably more for miles of fence.