# Find Your Lot Size



## Ware

FindLotSize.com is a useful tool for calculating areas of your lawn for fertilizer and chemical applications. To begin, enter your address and click "Go".








Once you have zoomed in on your lot, left click to start dropping markers. At least two markers are required to measure distance and three markers to measure an area. Don't worry if you drop a marker in the wrong place - you can left click and drag it to the correct location on the map. The calculated area will be displayed in various units on the left side of the map:


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## Stro3579

wow, this is a great tool


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## kds

I need to perform some deforestation :nod:


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## Gksdudrms

How accurate did you all find this to be? When I entered my address, the square footage it gave me was about ~2-3k sqft off from my "walk it off" measurement. Obviously I will trust the satellites more than my own two feet and terrible math but wanted to check.


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## Smokindog

Check your tax assessor website. Many of them provide a similar measurement function and on the one for my county I can zoom in to the overhead view much further and get a better measurement.


Gksdudrms said:


> How accurate did you all find this to be? When I entered my address, the square footage it gave me was about ~2-3k sqft off from my "walk it off" measurement. Obviously I will trust the satellites more than my own two feet and terrible math but wanted to check.


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## g-man

@Gksdudrms it gets you into the ballpark. Real measurements are better. A 25ft hose is a great easy way to get you closer to the real number. No need to be +/- 5sqft either.


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## gene_stl

I get about a 4,000 sq ft difference between this page and the astroturf page mentioned elsewhere. 59K vs 54K
I did compare distance measurements on find lot size with some on an actual survey which I have confirmed with tape and wheel and found them to be very close.


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## Gksdudrms

@Smokindog @g-man @gene_stl Thanks all! Seems like it gets us pretty close but doesn't hurt to double check using the tried and true measuring methods. Will also check out the tax assessor website (good idea!) and the astroturf website too!


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## gene_stl

You can buy a measuring wheel at Harbor Fright for very cheep. Also I saw a pretty nice looking one at Rural King. I prefer the ones with the larger size wheel because they negotiate bumps better. 
I don't think I believe the tax assessor at all. I think they entered surveys from days gone by where they had the chance although chances are those are more accurate than the satellite picture measurements.
I duplicated the distance measurements in my current survey (which were close to what was on record but not identical) The surveyors located seven or eight old iron pipes that ringed my property. My wheel (and/or tape) measurements showed that their numbers were very close.
Find my lot size numbers agreed pretty well too especially considering that I had to guess as to where the stakes were because of trees. (trees which mostly are no longer there :twisted: :lol: )


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## Smokindog

When I mention the tax assessor site I'm not talking about the plat and/or the surveys, although they are useful. MOST of the newer tax assessor sites are being driven by a handful of packaged software these days and those packages include GIS and other tools.

I can zoom in a LOT further (this example is NOT fully zoomed) thus making where I drop my measurement points much more precise than other tools. I've looked up my homes I owned (multiple counties in multiple States) and all had this feature. Your mileage may vary.

I did a small section for example for one of those homes to show how you can even "zig-zag" around planter beds that are only a few feet deep and not have to do all the "break it down into rectangular or regular shapes" you need to do with a wheel to compute area. These tools have proven quite accurate for me. Again, your mileage may vary.

Find your property and look for something similar to "View on Map"


Add Layers such as aerial photos if desired


Set up how you want you results


Drop as many measurement points as you wish (Ignore the "V" as that's a trail from me going to the screen scrape, no impact on measurement).




gene_stl said:


> You can buy a measuring wheel at Harbor Fright for very cheep. Also I saw a pretty nice looking one at Rural King. I prefer the ones with the larger size wheel because they negociate bumps better.
> I don't think I believe the tax assessor at all. I think they entered surveys from days gone by where they had the chance although chances are those are more accurate than the satellite picture measurements.
> I duplicated the distance measurements in my current survey (which were close to what was on record but not identical) The surveyors located seven or eight old iron pipes that ringed my property. My wheel (and/or tape) measurements showed that their numbers were very close.
> Find my lot size numbers agreed pretty well too especially considering that I had to guess as to where the stakes were because of trees.


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## gene_stl

I looked at the St. Louis County GIS and was underwhelmed.


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## Smokindog

I'd have to agree that your county site is underwhelming. Like I said, YMMV!


gene_stl said:


> I looked at the St. Louis County GIS and was underwhelmed.


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## iowa jim

gene-stl and smokindog: How much time a week do you spend on yard work? I have 12000sf. and have trouble keeping up with just that. My hat is off to you guys.


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## Smokindog

I'm retired now so a lot more now than before 

When I was working I'd only edge and trim every other week and I had my HOC at about 2.5-3" for both my St. Agustine and my Bermuda. I've got an area that has to be cut with a push mower because the riders don't have access.

Buying a ZTR cut my mow time by about half from the lawn tractor.

Mow only is one and a half to two hours and trimming adds another hour to hour and a half depending on how much things grew. Clean up (blow, rinse mower, ...) is about 30 minutes.

I now mow every 2-3 days......

I'll bet there are folks here spending a LOT more time than that.


iowa jim said:


> gene-stl and smokindog: How much time a week do you spend on yard work? I have 12000sf. and have trouble keeping up with just that. My hat is off to you guys.


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## gene_stl

You can't go by me. If I don't feel like going out I don't and the lawn looks it. I go out more in spring and fall and in the summer I tend to hide under my rock. It's hot and humid here in St. Louis and grass goes dormant anyway. Also since we just moved here I am still playing big time catch up. I have huge bare spots where trees and thickets used to be. And big brown spots where I either used RoundUp or too strong a mix. And big sheaves of stupid ornamental grasses that I am carefully burning off. (Giant Paspala. First cousins or even half brothers to dallis grass. And people planted them on purpose. Almost done with that.)
It probably takes me two hours to mow. I have the mower set on the highest setting and have the side discharge open. But the lawn does look better than when I got it. Last year it was a mass of weeds and dallis grass and crabgrass. This year in the front at least , not as much. I have not sprayed in the back yard or either of the side yards. This is a multi year project.


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## Anthony Drexler

Google maps has a measuring tool. Right click, and select measure distance.


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## NewLawnJon

I like to use the app Geo Measure. I walk the outline of sections of my lot to get the square footage.


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## XiolaOne

Is that pretty accurate? Didn't realize GPS on our phones were so accurate these days that it can get down to just a couple of feet apart in distance



NewLawnJon said:


> I like to use the app Geo Measure. I walk the outline of sections of my lot to get the square footage.


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## NewLawnJon

XiolaOne said:


> Is that pretty accurate? Didn't realize GPS on our phones were so accurate these days that it can get down to just a couple of feet apart in distance
> 
> 
> 
> NewLawnJon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like to use the app Geo Measure. I walk the outline of sections of my lot to get the square footage.
Click to expand...

It seems fairly close +/-5% of the actual measurements. Since I built my house I also have the platting showing all of the measurements from each side of the house to the lot line to compare to.

Since I am in a new development (roads were completed around September of last year) most of the mapping tools don't have my house or any guidelines to use. I also have a corner lot so I have a lot of beauty strips between the sidewalk and street that aren't on my lot measurements that seemed to be picked up well by GeoMeasure.


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## pennstater2005

NewLawnJon said:


> XiolaOne said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is that pretty accurate? Didn't realize GPS on our phones were so accurate these days that it can get down to just a couple of feet apart in distance
> 
> 
> 
> NewLawnJon said:
> 
> 
> 
> I like to use the app Geo Measure. I walk the outline of sections of my lot to get the square footage.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It seems fairly close +/-5% of the actual measurements. Since I built my house I also have the platting showing all of the measurements from each side of the house to the lot line to compare to.
> 
> Since I am in a new development (roads were completed around September of last year) most of the mapping tools don't have my house or any guidelines to use. I also have a corner lot so I have a lot of beauty strips between the sidewalk and street that aren't on my lot measurements that seemed to be picked up well by GeoMeasure.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Just downloaded this. I'm terrible at setting those little points accurately on the computer. I'll give this a try.


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## XiolaOne

The GPS didn't work for me. Went out my front door and it said I was on the side of my house


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## NewLawnJon

XiolaOne said:


> The GPS didn't work for me. Went out my front door and it said I was on the side of my house


Some phones are better than others at getting a reliable gps signal. I have found that turning WiFi off tends to help along with having the app open for a few minutes and walking slowly to make sure it has time to update.


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