Anyone familiar with survey plats?

[jstroede]

Ok, here is the case. My wife was wanting to put a screen porch on the back of the house. She hired a surveyor to come out and lay it all out for the city on Friday, and I was not there. It was evident to him right away that it was not going to meet the city setback requirement on the side street. He was really nice about everything and didn't even charge her. He did however mention though that he though there were issues with both my fence as well as my neighbor's fence to the rear. However, the wife did not get a lot of details, and being that we did not pay the guy, I can't really call and ask.

I have been able to locate the subdivision plan from the city. I have lot number 104. I am an engineer but don't know much about civil engineering or surveying. From the two pictures provided, would it be possible or me to locate my property boundries, at least fairly close? Neither my neighbor or myself located our own fences (his fence was there when he bought the house, and I built my fence directly on the existing fence line after a tornado destroyed it.) The neighbor behind me is trying to sell his house, so I would like to figure out if a problem exists.

There is about a 4 ft gap between our fences where the gas and telephone hookups are located, so I don't see how his fence could be that far on my property (my wife thought he said 3'?) with the utilities obviously being in the utility easement. There are plenty of dimensions on the drawing, and some other markings but I am not familiar with them. Are the dots that are dimensioned permanent markers in the ground possibly? The drawing calls out concrete monuments in various parts of the supdivision, but there is no other legend for markings.

If we were in a center lot, I think it would be much harder, but if I can locate the end points of the property on streets, with the lengths shown I can locate the back corner point. Is anyone familiar with these things? I think he told here to come mark everything out would cost about $500, so I really don't want to pay that if I don't have to. Thanks.

John

 

[kbs2244]

A metal detector is your friend
They pound the marker stakes below the surface so they will not be damaged or removed as a “nuance.”

 

[72Anthony]

It helps if you put some paragraphs in there...it is kind of hard to read.

The surveys i've seen have always indicated the physical markers, e.g. 5/8 inch rod, 6" below grade.

You can measure it yourself to get a ball park estimate. If something doesnt add up, you may either want to leave it alone or get a real survey done and proceed with legal action if you really want to pursue it.

There have been cases of swimming pools being demolished because they encroached on their adjacent property.

 

[lotsoftools]

Those dark points on the plat should be where you can find actual markers in the ground. Around here they use 5/8" rebar with a plastic cap right at ground level. We also have markers set in the middle of the street. I don't see those on your plat, but they may be there.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

The plat from the City is the plan filed by the developer before construction begins. I have personal experience of fence lines being off the property line by as much as 15 feet in a situation where they filled a low area enough to build the house and then followed the easy route with the fence construction. If you pay a surveyor, they should provide you a drawing showing where the actual property line is and where your house, fence, etc are with respect to the actual property line. If you want to apply to the City for a permit, this is essential proof to have in your hands. I paid to have my property surveyed twice, once when buying land and once after construction.

 

[pop pop]

If you are an engineer offering professional services to your employeer, why not use professional services and pay the going rate? Professional courtesy?

 

[barnee]

I would measure off the center line of the streets back 25' to find your property line on the street fronts. You would have to assume that the roadway is centered in the ROW line but they mostly are. Once you have established your front property lines you can then pull distances to find the back line as you have said.

Its an approximation but likely good enough.

 

[Ray-CA]

...I think he told here to come mark everything out would cost about $500, so I really don't want to pay that if I don't have to. Thanks.John

$500 is a great deal. We just had our lot surveyed and with the filing fee to the County, we spent $2775. You're going to need the survey done eventually so you might as well get it done. Prices are only going to go up.

Ray

 

[Kevin54]

Since you got it for free or at least the info, I think I'd still pop for the $500 deal. Also at the rear of your property there is a 5' Utility Easement designated by the 5' U.E.

If you have a metal detector, you may want to go that route right now to see if you can find your pins. Most will have a plastic cap on top showing the Surveyor's number and name. Or at least around here they do. I found all four of mine in about 30 minutes using an el cheapo metal detector. If you do go that way and find them, make sure you dig around them a little bit and then keep anything from growing around the pins so you will know where they are at years from now.

 

[csp]

Those dark points on the plat should be where you can find actual markers in the ground.

Not necessarily. They indicate where they set up the instrument to turn angles and measure distances from. It doesn't mean there's a marker there.

I worked for a land surveying company during the summer when I was in college. We only set up on property corners/section markers/quarter sections etc. so that there was a marker there, but some companies will turn and burn from anywhere that's convenient. With no labels as to what the pin is, it could be anything.

Even with markers driven into the ground, they are pulled up all the time when Joe homeowner wants to install a fence and the marker lies where a post hole is dug.

For the OP, if you can find a metal pin, or maybe a Tico nailhead in a front sidewalk where you think a property line is, use that and a tape measure along with the measurements on the plat to get an idea what the surveyor meant. Note that those measurements are not in inches, they are in tenths of feet.

 

[jws4621]

On your porch in some areas the porch or patio is not affected by the setback line just permanent structures ie. the house. You would have to check with the city on this though. As far as the property corners go there should be some kind of rebar or something in the corner over there I would probably search by the the street first and seeing that the surveyor was just there if he actually knows there is a problem he would have had to dig those corners up and if he did you should be able to go out and uncover them again.

I am in Texas so I don't know how your state works some when there is a title survey done they don't actually worry much about the boundary as much as the house. If so the surveyor when he does the house next door when it sells will come up with the same issue.