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Reading a property survey from 1952 showed me a fence line was off by 18 inches
I was setting posts for a cedar privacy fence in an older part of town and pulled the original plot plan. The document stated the setback was measured from the center of the old stone wall, not its edge, which shifted the whole boundary. Do you always double-check against the original survey notes, or just go by the modern stakes?
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joseph_ellis851mo ago
Wow, that's a tricky one... but honestly, I just trust the modern pins. Those old notes can be a total mess, and the last surveyor on site already did that work. If their stake is in the ground, that's the legal line now.
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king.aaron26d ago
Nah come on @joseph_ellis85, that pin's only good if it actually matches the original corner.
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verawhite1mo ago
That's a dangerous way to look at it. A fresh pin in the ground doesn't make it right if it's set in the wrong place. I've seen too many jobs where the last guy just followed a fence line or guessed. The old notes, even if messy, are often the only record of the original corners. You have to start there and see if the modern pin actually holds up.
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