A survey monument in Texas is any type of natural or artificial object that is permanently placed on the land and thus referred to in a map identifying the land or any legal description of that piece of land.
A monument serves as a physical marker of a boundary’s location, or of a corner or other survey point. It must be something that can be seen or touched, and can be either natural or manmade. A “natural” monument could be the shoreline of a lake, a river bed, a rock outcropping or any other type of similar natural formation. An artificial boundary, then, would be something manmade, and can be just about anything. Common examples include buried iron pipes, brass markers placed in concrete, stones with chiseled markings, a surveyor tag drilled into a piece of sidewalk, a steel rod or anything else that could be used to denote a boundary.
Using the original monuments
Depending on the age of the property, finding survey monuments in Texas might be a bit difficult, especially if the original boundary survey took place generations ago. However, whenever possible, finding and using those original monuments is important for maintaining accuracy in denoting boundary lines throughout the years so they will be consistent as the property changes hands to new owners over time.
United States law and surveying tradition have long followed the philosophy of following up on the work of other surveyors. This practice dates back to the time of Thomas Jefferson, who established a policy that any monument placed in the ground during the establishment of the public land survey system would forever serve as evidence of the corner of the property, regardless of any future refinements or changes in measurement. It was a highly practical solution to help avoid future disputes over boundaries, and it’s why monuments that are used must generally be permanent to prevent them from disappearing or deteriorating over time.
A question surveyors in Texas often receive is whether they will set new survey monuments at the corner of the properties, but the answer to this question really depends on the circumstances of each individual project. Again, the traditional rule is that you will use the original monuments whenever possible, but there are some circumstances in which this simply is not possible, especially if it’s an extremely old property and the monuments can no longer be found.
Setting monuments might not be the most practical solution, depending on what will occur at the property site. For example, if there’s going to be excavations for new retaining walls or foundations, it doesn’t make much sense to set new monuments if they’re only going to be crushed or destroyed. In addition, adding in monuments could potentially cause confusion if there is already a clear understanding of initial boundaries.
For more information about the use of monuments in boundary surveys and what you should know about land surveying in Texas and what a survey monument can be, we encourage you to reach out to the team of professional surveyors at D.G. Smyth & Co., Inc. today.