How to make LONG fence straight:???
Rocky
markers in the corners. I am required to install fencing on certain
parts of this land. The neighbor has cattle, so I must install barbed
wire.
OK, so I pound in some steel posts, a few solid wooden posts at
corners, and attach the wire. That is pretty basic and easy to
understand..... What i don't understand is how to get it straight.
One section is over 1000 feet long. It starts in a level area, rises
about 20 feet higher in the middle, and drops sharply about 50 feet at
the bottom of the land.
That eliminates stretching a string, and even if the land was "flat",
I recall trying to stretch a string about 250 ft. once, and could
never get it to stay straight, due to breezes, objects in the way, and
just tbe weigtht of it. I tried to stretch it real tight, and still
would not maintain a straight line, and just stretched out. I
tightened it more and it tore.....
THIS is FOUR times longer, and more....
There is the problem of the land curvature, and it is an old corn
field, with a million dried up corn stalks in the way....
I don't know where to begin....
PS. A neighbor suggested using a rifle scope, but there is still the
curvature problem, and I am still not sure how to line it up. It does
not need to be *perfect*, but must be close to the lot line.
Any suggestions ?????
PS. on the other side of the land, the fence is only about half as
long, but that section goes over a dried up creek bed, with extreme
slope...
I know farmers have done this for years, BUT HOW ????
Thanks in advance
Rocky
Rod Gilbert
"Rocky" <rockyroa...@iname.com> wrote in message
news:udilfsc8bf660oism...@4ax.com...
> We recently bought same acreage in the country. The land has survey
> markers in the corners. I am required to install fencing on certain
> parts of this land. The neighbor has cattle, so I must install barbed
> wire.
snip..
> I don't know where to begin....
>
> Any suggestions ?????
>
Tell your neighbour to install his own fence to keep in his poxy cows. Why
should it be your problem? Or do the cows have more rights than you?
(You're in Texas right?)
Rod
Robert H. Edsall
the boundary. Each person holds a stick vertically for sighting. Consider
any 3 persons. If person A sees that the middle person, B, is to the left
of his line-of-sight toward C, he tells B to move to the right, and when he
is in line, tells him to stop. This is done repeated among all groups of
three, until a straight line is achieved. Each person then puts his stick
in the ground, and strings are used between adjacent sticks to define the
boundary. If the strings are too long this way, each two-stick section can
be further subdivided by your assistants , using the same sighting method.
Bob Edsall
Rocky <rockyroa...@iname.com> wrote in message
news:udilfsc8bf660oism...@4ax.com...
> We recently bought same acreage in the country. The land has survey
> markers in the corners.
>
DennisN
certain
>parts of this land. The neighbor has cattle, so I must install
barbed
>wire.
>
>corners, and attach the wire. That is pretty basic and easy to
straight.
>One section is over 1000 feet long. It starts in a level area,
rises
>about 20 feet higher in the middle, and drops sharply about 50
feet at
>the bottom of the land
First of all, I agree with the comment about your neighbor being
responsible for fencing his own cows. After you eat a couple of
them (I'll help) he may see the light.
Now for the question you really asked. The easiest solution is
to hire a surveyor to set a couple of intermediate points. The
peace of mind may be worth the couple of hundred bucks.
The elegant DIY solution is to rent a surveyor's transit, or the
cheaper ones that builders use. They should have them at your
local rental place. You want the kind that the telescope tips
up and down. A true transit, where you can flip the telescope
end for end in its mount is best. Ask them to show you how to
use it. It's not difficult, but the thing has to be levelled.
You won't need a rod or anything, just the transit, and you
won't really be measuring angles, just setting a straight line.
Curvature of the earth will not be a problem, but the hill in
the middle will be.
Set up on the high point, where you can see both ends of the
line. Get set up as close to the line as you can do, by eye.
Sight on one corner, and flop the telescope end for end, or
carefully rotate the scope 180 degrees. See where the other
corner is in the scope. Unless you're superbly lucky, you won't
be on line. Note how far the other stake is off the cross
hairs, and move the transit half that distance. Repeat the
procedure until the cross hairs cut both stakes. This process
is called "wiggling in" by surveyors. It's time consuming and a
PITA, but is very accurate.
You can do the same thing, to a slightly lesser degree of
accuracy with a cross staff. Drive two nails into a four foot
length of 2x4. Mount it on a vertyical support, and proceed as
if it were a transit. This is how the Romans built their
straight roads. It's good enough for farm fencing.
If you can't see both ends from anyplace, then you can do this
with multiple trial lines, but it is very frustrating. You
guestimate the direction the line will go, and set posts,
lightly driven along that line. Get them as straight as
possible by sighting from post to post, or with a transit or
cross staff. When you reach the end, and find you are off line,
make a correction, and bring the posts back to line. It will
take multiple trials to get it right, so don't hammer in the
posts deeply.
Once you have the high point staked, erect a vertical pole, if
you can't see the fence posts. You need to be able to see both
ends of each "good" line segment. Then you can eyeball the rest
of the posts onto the line. It's a two man job. one man stands
at the end post, and sights across it to the other end. He
directs the second guy right or left to get the intermediate
posts on line. This is as accurate as the placement of the
middle post.
Once you arive at a good enough solution, get your neighbor to
agree that the fence is in the right place. If you are going to
have a dispute, now is the time to find out, not after you have
all the posts and wire in. Even better, get him to help with
the layout.
-Dennis Novak
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indi
by stretching his first wire from end post to end
post...your best bet is to talk to your neighbor...it's a
nice way to break the ice and in the country it's fun to
share work when help is needed...it's how we
socialize...you could offer to help him with some fencing
or chores in exchange for help with your fence...or you can
hire someone but that gets pretty expensive...good
luck...mary
land has survey
> > markers in the corners.
> >
Jeff Cochran
>corners, and attach the wire. That is pretty basic and easy to
First off, cows don't care if it's straight, but...
You do it the same way everyone else did. Set the two end posts.
Sight down them to set the second post from the end. Sight down those
two to set the third, and so on. If sighting doesn't get it straight
enough for you, stretch the top wire between the first and third post,
move the third until the wire just touches the second post. Set the
third post, nail to the second post and repeat for the fourth one. Ad
infinitum...
Any two points define a line. A third one in line with them will be
straight. It's actually best to have the first one sighted with a
distant reference, such as the final post, and set the third in
between, but that's tough to do on uneven ground.
Jeff
Rocky
<roderic...@home.com> wrote:
>
>Tell your neighbour to install his own fence to keep in his poxy cows. Why
>should it be your problem? Or do the cows have more rights than you?
>(You're in Texas right?)
>
>Rod
>
I'd like to tell the neighbor..... but I agreed to install 1/2 of the
fencing both the North and East sides of my land when I bought the
place. It's in the contract, and was worked out betweeen myself the
seller and the neighbor. The other two sides are only cornfields, and
do not need fences, just a few steel posts for markers. Legally, I
should actually fence all of it, because I have horses, but no one
seems to care about the other sides.
This is not Texas, it is Iowa........
Rocky
suenoir
side of the first post farthest from the last and line up the 2 posts.
You'll probaby have to stand a foot or two from the post. Even if the
last is higher or lower, you should still be able to line them up. Then
have a helper hold a post 10' or however far you'll space them and tell
him or her where to plant it. You'll get pretty close using this
method. Check with a string between 3 posts while sighting, if you
think you've strayed. Unless the ground is really rocky you can go
pretty fast. Use a angle iron pounder (or whatever its called), its a
tube capped at one end with handles on each side. It slides over the
angle iron and its the easist way to pound them in.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Turnkey
DennisN <civilsuppo...@usa.net.invalid> wrote:
> In article <udilfsc8bf660oism...@4ax.com>, Rocky
> <rockyroa...@iname.com> wrote:
> survey
> certain
> >parts of this land. The neighbor has cattle, so I must install
> barbed
> >wire.
> >
>
> First of all, I agree with the comment about your neighbor being
> responsible for fencing his own cows. After you eat a couple of
> them (I'll help) he may see the light.
>
> -Dennis Novak
>
> * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
> The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
>
>
Don't know about Texas but out here (Idaho and I believe Washington) a
common fence is the responsibility of both owners. It has been, ummm
years, but IIRC when standing facing your neighbors land the half to
your right was yours to build, fix, maintain. This applied whether you
had anything to be kept in or not.
Harry K
hoor...@my-deja.com
wifes horses. Our land has some rises and drops to it but only about
half of what yours seems to be. I still had a bit of trouble with it
but what I figured out was that if you site from post to post you can
eyeball the line. You only need to be able to see a few of the posts
as you are sighting but as long as you can see two you have something
to line the next post up on. I also used piece of 12 guage wire tied
to the corner post and strung taught with a comealong to give me a
straight line along most of the run. If it runs over hilly ground you
might have to pick it up and reset it several times from the center but
you should be albe to get it to lay straight after several attempts and
some good ol' eyeballing. One person has to eyeball the wire and the
other person picks it up and sets it straight. Once it deemed straight
you can take up the slack with the comealong. Once it is drawn tight
it won't move and will give you a reliable marker.