Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[Flounder]

Ha. Someone’s learning that ivory and white switches are different!

[dan_pdx]

Ha. Someone’s learning that ivory and white switches are different!

I'm pretty sure this is just the difference between old skanky white and white

[edited after I went and looked]

OK, you may be right. I have a feeling that one's going to be on the back burner for awhile

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

reminds me of things

[Garbowski]

I'm enclosing the overhang/patio area by the back door to be a small mudroom. It is only 55" deep, so I'm thinking a 36" exterior door is going to be too awkward if it swings inside. We are in Seattle with no AC, so will likely want the door open in summers.

Bad idea to have it be an outswing? I know I'd need security hinges, and probably some way to fix it open so the wind does not tear it off.

[oldnew_guy]

I'm enclosing the overhang/patio area by the back door to be a small mudroom. It is only 55" deep, so I'm thinking a 36" exterior door is going to be too awkward if it swings inside. We are in Seattle with no AC, so will likely want the door open in summers.

Bad idea to have it be an outswing? I know I'd need security hinges, and probably some way to fix it open so the wind does not tear it off.

Pretty standard in FL to have outswings right?

No matter what it seems like you would want some sort of awning over the door.

How are you going to screen it if it outswings?

[Garbowski]

Pretty standard in FL to have outswings right?

No matter what it seems like you would want some sort of awning over the door.

How are you going to screen it if it outswings?

Yeah seems like outswings have their pros and cons.

We were going to use one of those mesh curtains to screen it for the couple months we need it. We've had one on patio doors before and were fine with it. Thinking of a magnetic mount so it's not in the way when we are not using it.

Awning is an issue we will need to tackle- we are cannibalizing the existing awning as the mudroom roof so not sure what to do. May just live with it.

[Ted Striker]

reminds me of things

Licorice, vanilla, blueberry, watermelon, and mango.

[muted reborn]

What's a normal price to get my lot surveyed here in SLC?

(Thanks Tuco and Djongo for the siding advice!)

[old goat]

A lot will depend on how old and established the neighborhood is, what original monuments are nearby, if any.

[muted reborn]

Neighborhood is 1950's. Got a quote to survey my property and also install 4 monuments on the corners. There are none currently on/near the property, I think. Guy looked up my property on county records. Quote is $3200. Google says surveys are on average $500 so now I'm wondering what people here have paid before.

[Vt-Freeheel]

How stylish are the monuments? Can you cut corners there to save some dough?

[Buzzworthy]

I surveyed for years in Cache Valley. It depends on where they need to start from (known way point) to get to your property and stake it out. If things are line of sight, it can be a cheaper job.
You’re paying for an engineer to put their name on the property pins and that’s worth over $500 right there, plus drawing up the survey. Then there’s the actual field work. Couple of thousand sounds about right.

[muted reborn]

How stylish are the monuments? Can you cut corners there to save some dough?

There will be one of these on each corner, I suppose I could just ask for a tent stake and save some cash?

I surveyed for years in Cache Valley. It depends on where they need to start from (known way point) to get to your property and stake it out. If things are line of sight, it can be a cheaper job.
You’re paying for an engineer to put their name on the property pins and that’s worth over $500 right there, plus drawing up the survey. Then there’s the actual field work. Couple of thousand sounds about right.

Thanks. What site could I look on for known way points in my neighborhood?

[Vt-Freeheel]

There will be one of these on each corner, I suppose I could just ask for a tent stake and save some cash?

How about some of those ski poles with the long foam grips? For safety of course, someone could trip over a tent stake.

[muted reborn]

How about some of those ski poles with the long foam grips? For safety of course, someone could trip over a tent stake.

I want to lord over my mansion, not have my neighbors laugh at me with a fad, c'mon. But good point on the tent stake, I've tripped over almost every one i've put in.

[Buzzworthy]

Not up to date on websites as it’s been a long time. But we always started at the courthouse and the county recorder has all that info you seek. Look for any other surveys done in your area and recorded. Your lot survey would most like start off another recorded survey and marker nearby, not a USGS monument point. For a few bucks you should be able get a photocopy of any nearby survey(s).
Happy to try and answer any questions you have. I was the field guy.

[schuss]

Neighborhood is 1950's. Got a quote to survey my property and also install 4 monuments on the corners. There are none currently on/near the property, I think. Guy looked up my property on county records. Quote is $3200. Google says surveys are on average $500 so now I'm wondering what people here have paid before.

Most surveyors have been out straight with work. How big is the property? Do you need a soil scientist stamp and all appropriate setbacks/lines drawn?

[old goat]

I paid 5k in truckee some years ago. In sacramento it's at least double that in our neighborhood right now, to get a result that could be off by 5 ft. Developed in 1930, sidewalks have repaved at all the corners, repaved street multiple times, there's nothing left.

[::: :::]

I had a client who paid about that much ($3200) this spring to locate an outbuilding on a double property that was encroaching on the interior lot line. Also in that survey was 1’ increments to show topography around the building to plan an addition. (Hilly site here in OR). Another $1k to create a lot line revision for a future property split.

[bagtagley]

Thanks. What site could I look on for known way points in my neighborhood?

Salt Lake County Surveyor’s office has a spatial layer of monuments and benchmarks for the county and municipalities. That’s where I’d start. Not sure if they have them on a web map, but if you can get a list or the layer, I’m happy to take a look for you.

[spanky]

Neighborhood is 1950's. Got a quote to survey my property and also install 4 monuments on the corners. There are none currently on/near the property, I think. Guy looked up my property on county records. Quote is $3200. Google says surveys are on average $500 so now I'm wondering what people here have paid before.

Not SLC, but a relatively high COL area (NYC metro)… I paid $2200 in early ‘21…

Standard survey $1600
Topographic detail, FF, wells, etc. $600
Timing is about a month.

Later, when needed, the plot plan for the town permit would be $1000
The property would require a PE for the sanitary system design, that is not included in this email.
The PE would need underground utilities shown on the survey at that point, that is not included here but would be a third party fee of $400+ plus my fee for traveling back to the site.
Later, after the addition and sanitary upgrade is done, the asbuilt survey would be $1200. That would include assistance with the health dept filing for the green stamp.

[muted reborn]

Thanks guys, this is great. Sounds like I need to shop around and see what other quotes come in at.

I need a survey for my own needs, not for a "soil scientist stamp". Setbacks/lines would be nice. I'm trying to figure out where I can put a carport pole right near a property line and also if a fence is on my property or not. Bonus of getting a survey is that our property is marked at .19, but I think it's actually around .22-.25. There's evidence all my neighbors have wrong acreage listed with the county too so it's more than a gut feeling it's wrong. So the thought is if I spend the $ now we have proof later on when selling we have a bigger property. So we'd do this eventually anyways.



Bagtagger - thanks for the offer! below is my neighborhood, I'm roughly in the middle of this, looks like there are monuments around but not super close. What does this tell ya?

[toast2266]

Last time I had a lot surveyed, I think I paid around $1200. Nothing fancy - just marked the corners with the surveyor's rebar markers and gave me the printout of the map. I'm sure they filed it with the county too. I think they found markers a couple lots over from where they were surveying, so finding the initial corner of the lot was fairly straightforward. That's in Montana, which I suspect isn't particularly expensive for that sort of thing.

[bagtagley]

Bagtagger - thanks for the offer! below is my neighborhood, I'm roughly in the middle of this, looks like there are monuments around but not super close. What does this tell ya?

Depending on your level of paranoia, you might want to remove the map. I was able to find your subdivision pretty easily.

Have you gone out and tried to find your corner markers? The GIS parcel map is pretty sucky for determining accurate locations, but you could use it as a reference to narrow down the location of your corner markers. Do you have a copy of an earlier survey? If so, I could try to COGO it, which would be a little better than the parcel map, but probably not much. If the markers are gone, which isn't unlikely, you'd need a survey to determine those corner locations with any certainty.

Full disclosure, I'm a GIS guy, not a surveyor, which probably shows. My original offer was just to help you map the monuments.

[anotherVTskibum]

I'll just chime in with this: a bad survey is potentially worse than no survey at all. Comparison shopping is fine, but I'd be willing to pay for quality because I've been next door to someone who didn't in the past (and they nearly had to move their driveway after the neighbor on the other side got their lot surveyed).

I also know of a ski lift that's not entirely on the ski area parcel. No idea if that was a survey goof or failure to pay enough attention to a good survey, but I'd say that qualifies as an oops.

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