Painting monument caps...

[Jim Frame]

Can I honestly refer my attorney clients to this forum?

Sure! Know any attorneys with monument caps in need of painting?

[Jim Frame]

The worst mons I ever saw was my cousin's lot in Penn Valley, rebar with a tag wire tied to them, only the ones where the wire had not rusted away.

I sometimes use a rebar or pipe with a brass tag wired to it, but I use copper wire. When I first entered the business, a wired tag was the standard at the firm I worked for, as well as some others in the area. They all went to plastic caps soon after, but the wired tag thing stuck with me as a serviceable no-nonsense monument.

[btaylor]

There is a large 1940s subdivision which makes up about half of Portola Valley that have axles as original monuments, and if you are in an area that has seen little disturbance, you can find the tag still wired to them.

On a side note, the old tags are very well stamped. You do not need to get down on your knees and do the annoying scribing and cleaning to read the #. Seems like the tags I order are stamped so poorly. It's an annoying reminder whenever I need to use them.

[Jim Frame]

On a side note, the old tags are very well stamped.

The first order of tags I got when I started in business in 1993 were as you describe. The second order -- 2005 or so? -- aren't nearly as nice. The edges are kind of sharp, and the stamping less crisp. Both were from Berntsen, I think.

[pls5528]

Having worked in Sacramento for decades, rebar with wired tags are somewhat common around here, but have never been anything I have ever set as a standard. In fact, I started my career in surveying out of High School in Phoenix Arizona, and that was the common monument to set. I then spent the majority of my field years in southern California, where, this was not acceptable. One inch-Four inch pipes were the common monument, and, a few lead and tags. I moved back to Sacramento in 1988, and noticed that they were using rebar (just like in Arizona). I prefer pipe (especially galvanized) and lead and tags to this day, and feel they are the most durable and long lasting of them all. At least in Sacramento, they have discontinued plastic plugs recently--good riddance.