Permenant boundery markers

[sgf13]

I will soon have an underground power line run from my house service to my new workshop. I am having the septic company come to show where everything is and mark it. They did the install in the late 80’s so that is helpful. It cost $100 to do it which got me thinking.

Over the years I’ve had property line markers when I bought a house and other markers telling me where a boundary of something underground was at. The marker flags and paint are obviously not permanent. I am curious what others are doing to maintain future knowledge of these locations. I have taken pictures and measurements in the past and even laid a concrete block in place. Neither of these are always practical and I’m curious what other people do that works. I thought of GPS but was unsure of the best method for places that need to be more precise, like an underground wire or water pipe for example.

 

[Randy in Maine]

You could always buy a couple of 100' foot tapes and measure everything from your house corners. I would put a small nail in both house corners and measure at the same time. Sketch it up and then draw it up all nice to scale.

I am sure there is an app someplace that does it all now.

 

[Jeepster04]

Drive rebar in the ground and use a metal detector to find it later.

Im amazed they charge $100 to locate utilities. Thats free around here.

 

[Clik]

I was in a business where I did a lot of location work with all sorts of equipment from closed circuit TVs and radio transmitters that I ran through underground pipes. If I wanted to mark an existing Cleanout in a yard that would likely be buried I would triangulate by measuring X feet from North corner, X feet from South corner and where the two measuring tapes crossed was the spot. In the case of buried plastic gas line it's advisable to bury marking tape above the line so that a shovel will find the tape before hitting the line. Since plastic gas doesn't trigger a metal detector tracer wire is often laid over the pipe.

 

[Clik]

PS, your local Health Department should have a plat/drawing which will save you a $100 bucks.

 

[Kaizen]

Drive rebar in the ground and use a metal detector to find it later.

Im amazed they charge $100 to locate utilities. Thats free around here.

This is what I did. Took picks and measurements for approximate then found the rebar


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[GarageGuy89]

Im amazed they charge $100 to locate utilities. Thats free around here.

Only in the public ROW is it free. For them to come on private property costs money.

Those companies can locate everything because they have tracer wire they put down before back filling the utility trenches.

Some common things to do are rebar or a concrete block, 14 gauge wire you can trace, plastic tape 12" below grade, or mapping it all out on paper is what us home owners usually resort to, once you see the cost of all the those other things.

If the septic company warrants their locates its the value of your drain field.

 

[yeldogt]

Survey companies use a rebar and a cap ---

 

[sgf13]

PS, your local Health Department should have a plat/drawing which will save you a $100 bucks.

They do not. I tried that first.

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[Falcon67]

Drive rebar in the ground and use a metal detector to find it later.

This. $45 detector from HF and a shovel.

>PS, your local Health Department should have a plat/drawing which will save you a $100 bucks.

If you mean the County Records - probably not. And if they do, like in our old neighborhood, they are not worth the paper used to record the mets and bounds.

 

[wasfuzz]

Drive rebar in the ground and use a metal detector to find it later.

Im amazed they charge $100 to locate utilities. Thats free around here.

Only the utilities that are before the meter, etc are free. If you OWN the line then it is YOUR responsibility to mark the line. Some companies are very lax about it most are not. If the person locating the line makes a mistake and it (the line, pipe, etc) is hit - it is the contractor edit to read locator doing the work's responsibility to fix it. Often if it means a business is shut down because of loss of power, etc the person who "hit" the line is also handed a bill for work stoppage. I base what I am saying on prior experience for a large national Power company as a damage inspector.

 

[mike93lx]

They do not. I tried that first.

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In MA, the Title V survey should have location info. Its on file with the town and the septic company that did the testing will also have it. That's how i learned where my tank and field were. Not sure how this works in other states.

I keep a copy of the layout by my pressure tank in the basement instead of having markers in the yard.

 

[rsanter]

They make survey markers with the tassel type things on the top. They are very durable and can still hide in the landscape till you go looking for them.

Whenever I have underground lines put in I always require that the cheap caution tape be installed 12” above the line. That way of someone starts digging they will run into that first.

On hardscape I require a brass ID tag and in the landscape I require the survey tassels

 

[brownbagg]

i did the rebar thing but i poured concrete around the rebar so it cant be moved, its all underground about a foot

 

[nehog]

For a marker around here we usually get a 3 ft long piece of 4x4 granite that has a smooth top. You bury that at the survey points so the center of the granite is right on the mark. Then next to the granite marker, drive in a piece of rebar so you can find it with a metal detector.

 

[38 Dodge Coupe]

I place a 6" x 6" paver stone on top of my lot line markers and set them flush with the ground. Then once a year I make sure that the grass has not grown over top of them (and make them disappear. ) Seems to work for me.

 

[jkeyser14]

Put up a fence

 

[NUTTSGT]

Rebar

T-post (fence post)

Railroad spike

A hole bored into the ground filled with concrete and .50 casing placed in the center

 

[cajunfirehawk]

Just had this come up with my new neighbor on this exact situation; we have lived at this location for 10 yrs, the question of where is our/their boundary line came up, luckily for me, between our survey plot plan and the prev owner which drove rebar and made a 6-8" circle of cement around the rebar, once I measured out per my plot plan with a few pokes in the soil I found the markers, super easy, dug the soil away and showed the new neighbors, amazed people buy homes and DO NOT get copies of or new surveys showing their boundaries.

 

[77Birdman]

There is usually a metal pin "cap" that the surveyor will install. This should be a permanent point, but can easily be overgrown. Put a treated 4 x 4 about 2ft above grade beside the cap. You can take a saw and ease the edges a bit or round over the top so it doesn't look too bad.

 

[CraigStu]

We recently bought a 5A property. The first 200 feet from the road was well marked already but further back was not. The county GIS maps on the web allow me to move the pointer around and read lat/lon to 6 decimal places. Then I grabbed an app called My GPS Coordinates which reads out as I walk. Walking as little as 3 ft changes the lat/lon. So this is great for finding property lines but I probably wouldn't build a fence based on it.

 

[steveo1o9]

This. $45 detector from HF and a shovel.

>PS, your local Health Department should have a plat/drawing which will save you a $100 bucks.

If you mean the County Records - probably not. And if they do, like in our old neighborhood, they are not worth the paper used to record the mets and bounds.

Health departments will typically have the septic permit, design, and as-built sketches on file, except older homes will most likely not be in the system. My buddy just went through trying to locate his system and the department didn't have anything on file older then mid 80's, so most people in the area are SOL.

 

[yossarian19]

Bury rebar in the trench and find it with a metal detector. Take measurements from some easily identifiable point to get started later on.
And / Or : have a surveyor come shoot in anything / everything you need and have them produce a sketch map showing location of house, septic, etc along with easements as applicable and boundary lines, monuments recovered, etc.
If you don't need the whole 9 yards right now, just bury rebar alongside everything and make a sketch by hand showing what's what. A surveyor will have an easy time finding it later if needed.

 

[kbs2244]

In IL the rural survey corner markers are a 1-inch pipe, 4-foot-long, driven "below plow level"
That is most often thought to mean 16 inches.
That seems to be the procedure in subdivisions as well.

As far as underground utilities routing, I had the contractor/utility marker guy come and put in his flags.
(It is free)
Then I took digital PICs from about 4 different angles.
Each PIC has a WP file with it with distances from building corners, etc.

I understand that now, in addition to the traditional wording of a markers location, they record the GPS location.

 

[Git]

You could always buy a couple of 100' foot tapes and measure everything from your house corners. I would put a small nail in both house corners and measure at the same time. Sketch it up and then draw it up all nice to scale.

I am sure there is an app someplace that does it all now.

This is what I do - Triangulation. Of course, I don't live on a 5 acre lot, but if your property line is close to a couple of PERMANENT landmarks, it works well and is very accurate.

 

[6768rogues]

Only in the public ROW is it free. For them to come on private property costs money.

Those companies can locate everything because they have tracer wire they put down before back filling the utility trenches.

Some common things to do are rebar or a concrete block, 14 gauge wire you can trace, plastic tape 12" below grade, or mapping it all out on paper is what us home owners usually resort to, once you see the cost of all the those other things.

If the septic company warrants their locates its the value of your drain field.

Here we call 811 and they handle calling out all entities that might have something buried on the property. They will locate any underground facility that is owned by a utility or municipality, even on private property, for free. However, they will not locate anything private, like a septic system or a water line from a well to a house.

 

[southalabama]

I think pics and your own map by triangulation is the best way. Print a page from google earth and draw on it.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson kept detailed notes of their property and even when things were planted. I wish that I were as detailed but I don't have their workforce.

When I had the property surveyed the boundary markers were so far apart they weren't within line of sight so I had the surveyor stick a flag pin down every so often. I then went back and sank a post and hung a birdhouse on it. So the boundaries are all marked. Corners by iron pipe or concrete survey marker.

As far as waterlines that I've installed I've made a drawing.

The septic system and house or on adjacent property. Power is overhead and the septic tank is partially visible. No clue where the field lines go. I suspect that I'll find out one day the hard way but no development around the area is planned.

 

[cdestuck]

I to did a hole with concrete and rebar driven into the middle of concrete. Easy and no problems

 

[yossarian19]

I understand that now, in addition to the traditional wording of a markers location, they record the GPS location.

That's state by state. Here in CA we are not required to I'm not aware of anyone that does. GPS can create false certainty, too, where people will think their cell phone is a legit way to find the property line (it is orders of magnitude less accurate than a surveyor's setup) etc.

 

[tapered-pin]

I will soon have an underground power line run from my house service to my new workshop. I am having the septic company come to show where everything is and mark it. They did the install in the late 80’s so that is helpful. It cost $100 to do it which got me thinking.

Over the years I’ve had property line markers when I bought a house and other markers telling me where a boundary of something underground was at. The marker flags and paint are obviously not permanent. I am curious what others are doing to maintain future knowledge of these locations. I have taken pictures and measurements in the past and even laid a concrete block in place. Neither of these are always practical and I’m curious what other people do that works. I thought of GPS but was unsure of the best method for places that need to be more precise, like an underground wire or water pipe for example.

drive a 12" piece of #4 rebar into the ground at each corner (if you look on your plat, it was probably done for you already)

each corner of the plat should say one of the following
IPS - iron pin set
IPF - iron pin found

GPS is not as accurate as using surveying equipment off a known benchmark.

 

[ptgarcia]

Save the monumentation for P.L. corners. For marking buried utilities, bury some caution tape above the lines and create a dimensioned plat depicting their locations.

 

[tapered-pin]

Save the monumentation for P.L. corners. For marking buried utilities, bury some caution tape above the lines and create a dimensioned plat depicting their locations.

he could always mark them on his plat with dimensions to the property line.

 

[ptgarcia]

he could always mark them on his plat with dimensions to the property line.

That was my meaning.