New Mailbox

[3RRL]

I told you guys it was a busy weekend for us. Among other things, we finally got our address for the rural property so Mrs. 3RRL ran down to the Fire department to order the address plaque. They are blue flourescent so they can be seen easily by emergency vehicles. When it came in this weekend, she asked if we could put up our mailbox and the address.

So I got out the lumber and sawed up the pieces and screwed it all together. Then she sealed and stained it and I bolted the steel mailbox onto it. It's nothing special, but she really likes it.

This is a back view of it before going into the ground.


And this is the front view showing our new street address sign.

 

[3RRL]

So now I had to dig the hole for it so I tried out my Leinbach Post Hole digger. I got the PHD and hooked that up to the Kama. Boy, you can't believe how easy it was to switch over from the boxblade, the brush hog and then to the PHD using Pat's EZ system.




Then we went up to the road entrance and dug a hole with it.
The mailbox is only 6' tall so I figured I'd need a 2' to 3' deep hole to have it end up around 3' to 3-½' off the ground. In talking with the Post Office, I was surprised there no specific requirements or standards for installation? The only thing they did was send the mailman out and he put a big rock where he wanted the post, so that's where I put it.

 

[stumpfield]

Hey Rob,

Looks like you got a lot of work done over the weekend. Great looking mailbox there... It's nice to be able to install the mailbox right in front of the property. I have to put mine 4 miles away.

Tom

 

[3RRL]

After removing some of the loose sand with a coffee can, we stuck the post in and proped it up with some rocks and straightened it. Then we mixed up some concrete. Prior to that, I had cup the top and bottom off a 5 gallon plastic bucket to use as a mold so the concrete could be poured above ground about 6". I did this so when we weed-eat around it we will not cut into the wooden post itself. Then I will cut the plastic off the concrete when it's set. Wes also got to put his initials in it.
So this is what it looks like in the ground. We like it.




This is how it looks from the front.

 

[3RRL]

The post hole digger ran in there pretty quick except a couple of small rocks. I ran it just at about idle speed. As you can see, there was mostly soft earth for the first 1-½' and the it got into the harder decomposed granite before reaching depth.
Mrs 3RRL didn't get it from start to finish, but she managed to get a little video of it drilling the hole. It will take a while to download, hope you can view it.

 

[5030]

RoB

Been keeping busy I see.....

Hope your mailbox lives a longer life than ours used to. Farm kids just love to use rural mailboxes around here for batting practice and to see if their firecrackers will destroy them....

Besides, an ocassional combine or chisel plow like to hit ours too.

This was a problem until I took a large mailbox and put a smaller one inside. I filled the cavity between each with high density mortar which gives me about 4" between the outer box and the inner box all the way around. Then I mounted the large mailbox on a steel lazy susan which I mounted to the top of the wooden post. I really wanted to mount the box on a 8" diameter heavy walled pipe in 4 feet of concrete, but I was told by the road commision that if their snowplow or road grader hit the pipe, I'd be responsible for the damage to their equipment (not that I don't pay for it already with property taxes). I wanted a steel pipe so the friendly farm kids in their parents car would be there, attached to the pipe when the sherrif came.

Anyway, I haven't lost the post yet or the mailbox, which, by the way, is Postmaster General Approved (I left the front door off the big box and the little inside box is complete with door).

This Fourth of July about 10:00pm I heard a big bang and shattering glass. Seems some farm kids (or city kids out for some fun) were driving down the road smashing mailboxes with a ball bat out the side of a car. When they got to mine, the bat came back and broke the back window in the car and left a big dent in the side. Wonder how they explained that to mom and dad. Too bad.

 

[3RRL]

Daryl,
Your posts always crack me up...leave it to you to build an "above ground" bomb shelter...hahaha
It's really too bad you have trouble with kids like that, but you're not alone. We have found bonfires in the middle of the culdesac right at our road's entrance. But luckily, the neighbors have not had any damage to their mail boxes yet.
And I don't have to worry out here in So Cal about a combine or snowplow running over my mailbox...maybe just some crazy hippie in a VW bus that's lost looking for his weed patch? LOL

BTW, I like your new avatar with that Triumph in it.

 

[PineRidge]

Rob that's a nice looking piece of handiwork.

Around here it wouldn't last long I'm afraid. The kids drive up and down the road since the speed limit is 45 MPH they can get a pretty good clip going before they haul out the baseball bat. If I knew they were coming ahead of time I would love to fill my box full of set concrete.

 

[3RRL]

Mike,
You got that same problem in Ohio as Daryl does in Michigan? What's up with that?
No wonder those states always produce great ball players? I've got one thing going for me, I live at the very end of the cudesac so at least they'll have to slow down to make the curve. Mine will more than likely produce a hocky player practicing on roller blades.

 

[PineRidge]

Don't get me wrong I don't gripe about doing maintenance around the home. However, busted mailboxes and picking up empty beer cans in my culvert don't make for the start of a good day.

 

[schmism]

the concrete could be poured above ground about 6". I did this so when we weed-eat around it we will not cut into the wooden post itself.

weed-eat... HA! you got nothing out there cept dry weeds!....

when does the rainy season begin?

 

[GeneD14]

The new mail box looks good!

In the last 10 years we have had 2 mail boxes smashed and 1 stolen. The stolen one was a fiberglass one that looked like a John Deere cab tractor.
On my "to-do" project list I want to make one out of heavy gauge steel that looks like a tractor.

 

[5030]

Rob that's a nice looking piece of handiwork.

Around here it wouldn't last long I'm afraid. The kids drive up and down the road since the speed limit is 45 MPH they can get a pretty good clip going before they haul out the baseball bat. If I knew they were coming ahead of time I would love to fill my box full of set concrete.

Being handy with welding, cutting and fabrication I almost thought of building a mailbox from 1/8" steel plate but there is a catch. A mailbox must be approved by the Postmaster General or the mail carrier don't have to leave mail in it. I believe that the process of approval probably involves gratuities of an undisclosed nature (typical gummit) in as much as most of the "approved" mailboxes in the stores are high priced junk.

My little box inside a big box idea works good enough. It was sublimely satisfying to hear the sound of the car, the WUMP and the glass break.

We don't have too much problem with beer cans and pop cans. With unemployment what it is here, folks are happy to get their 10 cent deposit rather than throw them in the ditch or on the road.

TBYNet must be getting a little more left wing. 2 years ago I'd have taken lots of flak for my post.

 

[5030]

Rob:

You've seen that bike before, remember??
Since the changeover to this new forum outline, I lost my signature picture and I didn't have one on the computer so I substituted my Bonnie. Took a while to load all those posts.

 

[3RRL]

Rob:

You've seen that bike before, remember??
Since the changeover to this new forum outline, I lost my signature picture and I didn't have one on the computer so I substituted my Bonnie. Took a while to load all those posts.

Yeah, you emailed me some pictures a while back and I also caught your thread on it....very cool with that side car on it. Very rare to see that nowadays.

 

[3RRL]

weed-eat... HA! you got nothing out there cept dry weeds!....

when does the rainy season begin?

Schism,
Pretty observant of you...hahaha. Rainy season starts in November, sometimes October.
Sometime around early Spring the natural grass, weeds and flowers get up "hub high to a ferris wheel"...so I'm planning ahead.

 

[Timber]

Rob that was perfect timing, I am on vacation this week coming up and I have about 300 feet of fencing to do, I am going use my new PHD for the 1st time LOL
I have miles of fence under my belt but all done by hand.

 

[Soundguy]

Don't get me wrong I don't gripe about doing maintenance around the home. However, busted mailboxes and picking up empty beer cans in my culvert don't make for the start of a good day.

Ditto. We have a pasture that is a little down from ou house.. and pople just love to toss beer bottles / cans -over- the fence and into the pasture... Heck.. i'd rather they leave them on the ROW.. I'd still pick them up.. just wouldn't have to 'find' them with the mower..

This pasture is also rural.. and I'm also awaiting assignment of a street address from our 911 district.

To the other poster with the 'super' mailbox.. I love it... Instant karma repayment!!

Soundguy

 

[scott_vt]

Hi Rob,
Well wouldnt you know that I put in my new mailbox a few weeks ago ! And about a week later an old friend that knows that I have a tractor runs into me and tells me that he has a PHD for sale 6" I believe, that he will sell me resonably Well, of course Im still interested, but the sense of urgency seems to have evaporated Anyway, I see a PHD in my future! Thanks for the pics

 

[jinman]

Rob, it's hard to tell by your photos, but I always mount my mailbox with the front lip about 1/2" lower than the back. That way any door leakage runs back out the front instead of flowing back and possibly wetting my mail. Does anybody else do that?