How to Search for a Property Stake

Locating a property stake on your land is an excellent way to keep yourself safe from any possible lawsuits, and also to prevent neighbors from encroaching upon your land. Property stakes are driven into the ground for the purpose of serving as a line of separation between your land and the adjoining properties. Before you undertake any building project on your land, it is essential to delineate the boundaries of your property so you can remain within their confines. In order to do this, it is necessary for you to search for your property stake.

• Begin by reading through the documents you were given at the time when you first purchased the property in question – a package of documents is always presented to the buyer upon purchase, when the property title changes hands. Contained within this stack of documents will be a detailed description of the property boundary.
• Using the description of the property boundary, take a walk around the perimeter of your property. Start at the front corner, and keep your eyes peeled for the first stake, as you will be using this to find the remaining stakes. Stakes are generally hard to spot as they blend into the surroundings well, and they can be anything from a rebar (a steer bar) sticking up a few inches from the ground, a short cement post, a wooden stake, a T-post of one or two inches.
• Mark out spots where you think the stake will be located, and drag the blade of a hoe over the areas where you suspect the stake to be. In addition, you can also drag it across the ground near the boundary lines. The moment you hit an impediment, investigate and check to see whether it is the stake. For this purpose, you can also use a metal detector.
• Once you find one stake, immediately coat it with some ground paint – this will make it visible, and you will be able to spot it with ease. Now that you have your first stake, you can begin to look for the others, using the first as a guiding point. Use the property description, some measuring tape, and a compass as tools in your search, and keep going until you’ve found all the stakes. Loop string or tape around all the stakes, to create a makeshift “boundary”, which can be used as reference during your construction project.