How to Survey Property Lines

Example of a professional laser range finder.

Surveying property lines is done every day to establish boundary lines and the location of rights-of-way. If you learn to survey property, you can reasonably determine the size and configuration of your land as well as the location of encroachments and rights-of-way that may affect your property's utility and value. Don't rely on existing fence lines or other natural borders, such as a stream's location, to determine the property line; they can be misleading. That fence may not have been installed on the property line; and that stream may have changed course over the years.

Things You'll Need

• Plat map of the parcel
• Parcel map
• Magnetic compass
• Laser range finder used for home improvements or in sports
• Five or six wooden stakes or sticks, 36 inches tall
• Five or six metal spikes or nails, about 8 inches long
• Red ribbon
• Hammer
• A second person to help you

Instructions

Obtain your plat map and parcel map.

1. 

   The recorder's office is located in the county government seat.

   Visit the county recorder's office and get a copy of the plat map that shows the location of the parcel relative to other parcels in your area. Also, get a copy of the parcel map that shows your property's location and its dimensions.

2. Find the approximate location of the property on the plat map relative to other properties in the area. Study your parcel map to find physical landmarks to use as points of reference, such as streets, curbs, sidewalks, and sewers. Look at the written notations on this map, which will indicate specific directions and distances from these points of reference in relation to your property.

3. 

   Place a wooden stake in the ground to mark the corner of your property.,

   When you have located one of the physical markers on the parcel map, such as the street intersection, a sewer manhole cover, a curb cut, or another physical location marked on the map, place an upright stake on that mark. Use your magnetic compass to determine the direction to your property corner from that stake, and use your laser range finder to determine the exact distance to the property corner. The laser range finder works like radar and sends a beam of light to your marker point in the distance and bounces it back to the range finder telling you on the screen what the distance is to that point. Have the other person stand with the next wooden stake in hand in the approximate place where you expect to locate the property corner. Point your range finder at the compass direction your parcel map indicates you will locate the next corner. Have the person adjust the position of the wooden stake until your range finder and compass indicate the correct distance and correct direction as shown on the map. Since the range finder registers the distance on the screen, have your helper move until the correct distance is shown on the screen. Place the stake in the ground at that precise point.

4. 

   Use your compass to determine direction to next corner.

   Study the parcel map to determine the direction of distance of the next-closest corner of the property, and use your compass and range finder to locate where your assistant should place the next stake. This process is repeated to establish each corner of your property.

5. 

   A large spike or nail is used to mark the location of each property corner.

   Wrap the head of the 8-inch metal spikes with a 6-inch piece of red ribbon. Go to each of the locations where you established a property corner and hammer the spike into the precise location that you established as the property corner, thereby creating a permanent location marker.

Tips & Warnings

• You can buy inexpensive, simple range finders at a home improvement store. A golf range finder would also work just as well.

• Putting a large metal can temporarily on top of the stake when you are using the range finder will make it easier to determine the correct range.

• Pound the metal spikes into the ground completely and make sure the ribbon is visible so you can find the location later.

• The county recorder's office typically charges a fee for copies of maps.

• Your survey will indicate the location of your property lines for your own personal assessment purposes but will not be as precise as a professional construction survey is. Hire a professional property surveyor prior to construction to create a mapped survey record of your property that contractors can rely upon.