SURVEYING YOUR OWN LAND

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Step four: Proceed to the next point. Don't give up if your search has so far proven fruitless. The next corner may lie in plain sight. And that's a bonus, because the more corners you find, the greater your chances of finding the remaining ones. You'll know what you're looking for and be able to zero in on it from two sides.

One possible monkey wrench that may be throwing you oft: Your deed bearings may not be written in terms of magnetic north (a compass actually points to a "false North Pole"). They may be written in true north (referring to the real North Pole) or even in grid north (referring to an artificial regional standard that uses parallel "north-south" lines). Then too, even magnetic north shifts some over time. So if your bearing readings seem to be causing you trouble, take a compass reading between two known points of your deed or plat, and compare that to the recorded bearing. If there's a significant difference, adjust all your bearing readings as needed to compensate.

Step five: Preserve the markers you find, but DO NOT MOVE THEM. They are considered legal boundaries only as long as they remain exactly where they are. You cannot move them to where you think they ought to be. Only a licensed surveyor can do that. The difference between you and a surveyor (besides $400 a day) is that only that person can establish property lines and testify in court on their whereabouts. If there are serious legal problems with your boundary, you will need a surveyor.

Do-it-yourself surveying can stave off disputes with your neigbors.

Know Your Land

So what have you accomplished? A lot. If you found some corners, you may have staved of a boundary war with your neighbor. Show him or her what you've found, so you'll agree. Then paint a few trees or pile rocks around the spot so it doesn't go to weeds. Don't force your grandkids to go through the same search.

Even if you didn't turn up any corners, your time hasn't been wasted. You've probably dug up some useful old records, and that's half of what you'd pay a real surveyor for.

AREA COMPUTATION

If your property has a simple rectangular shape, you don't need to read this. But what about those of you with oddshaped lots with five or ten separate sides? Before you throw in the towel, try this method for computing your acreage.

First, make a scale drawing of your property on grid paper (Step 1). It doesn't have to be entirely accurate, but it should be large enough so you can write plenty of figures inside. Write the direction (in bearings) and distance along every boundary line.

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