Thread: My new brick letterbox

My house has a small crappy letterbox as you can see in the picture below, every time it rains the mail gets soaked.
first of all i started off designing the box, got it all on paper, dug my 20cm deep foundations.

then i made up some reinforcement i forgot to take a picture of, its 12mm i think reo bar bent into a U shape with normal concrete mesh welded onto the bottom so it was a free standing structure before going into the cement at the half way mark. i measured nice and accurately and bent it up nice and accurately so the brick could fit perfectly over it.
i wanted to have a decent strength letterbox in case someone backed into it or something and wouldnt fall apart. I laid down that orange plastic base under the concrete to prevent moisture coming up like what happened on my last letterbox.

i decided to lay some damp course down at the bottom to stop any moisture getting into my box like what happened ot the last one where i got rising salt damp. i put it all the way around, pictur eonly shows 2 strips.

using a proper mortar mix of brickies sand, cement and lime instead of that crap mortar mix from bunnings i got it all working nicely.

i stuck a nice 100mm pvc pipe in the middle for a junk mail holder after cutting the bricks nicely to fit around it. then i cut some more bricks so that the maily slot and door would fit nicely and allow the mail to go in nicely and not get stuck on the edges of the bricks.
I put screws in the edges of the flap and mail entry plate to hold it into the mortar when i assembled it so it wouldnt just fall out on me or mail man.

when i assembled the box i used a nice jig i made up that allowed me to place mortar on the next course without getting it all over the bricks and also allow me to get the spacing between the bricks correct and level so it wouldnt go all over the place like my last one did. Also the spirit level helped also.

last of all i put a 500x500 paver on top after drilling some holes for the reo rod that is sticking up to go into to hold it on nice and firmly, i only drilled the holes half way so they wouldnt show through the top and give it extra strength.

Now all i need is a number for the front.

Thats one solid letterbox, and very very neat!
The first brick letter box I built fell down in 3 months..... I blame the mortar

top job, did you core fill the caverty?

Originally Posted by PlasterPro

top job, did you core fill the caverty?

i had thought of it but in the end couldnt be stuffed.

Top effort Wozzzza.

Is it on footpath, or inside your boundary? Just the old one was set back.

Luckily you still havn't put the numbers on yet.

Stick em on the back...........Your council surveyor will be confused & wont have a clue what to do about it

Originally Posted by chipps

Top effort Wozzzza.

Is it on footpath, or inside your boundary? Just the old one was set back.

i reckon its about half and half. will see what happens though if council notice or complain about it.

ah well crap happens. look down the street, theres mail boxes, gardens, brick garden edges all over the footpath area which is council land of peoples houses and theres no footpaths as such, mostly lawn to the road so its not just me who has done it.

don`t be disheartened I think it`s a top effert .
Even if you did want to move it, It`s that solidly built I don`t think you could!!

finally!
Its finished.

what a saga this has been

Looks good, I built my one not on my land but on the nature strip and grew a hedge along the front as well.
I do have a rock at a nice height for the posties foot. My issue was Im on a corner and the postie used to come to my box then cut round on the grass. Once the goat track started the sheep followed. As to Headpins issues, I planted trees for that . One is an ash which self seeded so hit that, dont blame me.

Originally Posted by wozzzzza

My house has a small crappy letterbox as you can see in the picture below, every time it rains the mail gets soaked.
first of all i started off designing the box, got it all on paper, dug my 20cm deep foundations.

then i made up some reinforcement i forgot to take a picture of, its 12mm i think reo bar bent into a U shape with normal concrete mesh welded onto the bottom so it was a free standing structure before going into the cement at the half way mark. i measured nice and accurately and bent it up nice and accurately so the brick could fit perfectly over it.
i wanted to have a decent strength letterbox in case someone backed into it or something and wouldnt fall apart. I laid down that orange plastic base under the concrete to prevent moisture coming up like what happened on my last letterbox.

i decided to lay some damp course down at the bottom to stop any moisture getting into my box like what happened ot the last one where i got rising salt damp. i put it all the way around, pictur eonly shows 2 strips.

using a proper mortar mix of brickies sand, cement and lime instead of that crap mortar mix from bunnings i got it all working nicely.

i stuck a nice 100mm pvc pipe in the middle for a junk mail holder after cutting the bricks nicely to fit around it. then i cut some more bricks so that the maily slot and door would fit nicely and allow the mail to go in nicely and not get stuck on the edges of the bricks.
I put screws in the edges of the flap and mail entry plate to hold it into the mortar when i assembled it so it wouldnt just fall out on me or mail man.

when i assembled the box i used a nice jig i made up that allowed me to place mortar on the next course without getting it all over the bricks and also allow me to get the spacing between the bricks correct and level so it wouldnt go all over the place like my last one did. Also the spirit level helped also.

last of all i put a 500x500 paver on top after drilling some holes for the reo rod that is sticking up to go into to hold it on nice and firmly, i only drilled the holes half way so they wouldnt show through the top and give it extra strength.

Now all i need is a number for the front.