Finding property corners

Since 1947, when a monument is set marking a property corner, the surveyor is required by law to file a record of survey at the County Surveyor’s Office.

We refer to finding existing monuments as a “kick-out”. A kick-out is looking for previously set monuments. Found monuments are marked with a lath and surveyor flagging.

When asked to find existing monuments, we check County records to see if there are any monuments of record to find, and what type of monuments were set.

When ordering a kick-out please know that there is is no guarantee that we will will find all or any monuments.

We often find monuments that are 100 years old, but unfortunately monuments are sometimes destroyed by construction of houses, fences and retaining walls.

There are many kinds of survey markers. For the property owner there are three you should know about – iron rods, iron pipes and brass screws.

Brass screws were sometimes set in fence footings or walls when said improvement was located on the property corner. Typically, brass screws were set in the sidewalk or curb, along the extension of the property line. A hole would be drilled in the sidewalk. The hole would be filled with a plug of lead and the brass screw set in the lead. Sometimes brass screws will have a brass washer inscribed with either the name of the surveyor or the survey company name. Berntsen survey markers are now used in place of brass screws.

Iron pipes were set at angle points or property corners. They were usually 3/4″ or 1/2″ inside diameter in size. In the good old days Willard Wells and his employes would collect leftovers from the neighborhood plumber to set at property corners. During the late 50′s and 60′s, surveyors switched from iron pipes to iron rods.

Iron rods are 5/8″ in diameter. Some are smooth, but most are rebar. As with iron pipes, rods are set at all angle points and property corners. They are topped with plastic caps inscribed with the name of the surveyor or the name of the company setting the corners.