shoehorny's Full Review: Black Us No. 2 Rural Mailbox
We moved into our home several years ago. It is the home of both my wife and my dreams! A super long driveway leads from a typical country road through farm land to our farm house, the size has been expanded multiple times through the centuries. The only thing that seemed out of place was the simple, dull mail box at the beginning of the driveway. It was one of the first items I hoped to change after we bought the house.
I finally got to it this morning! I had some landscaping timbers stocked up on my property that were not being used, so I took two of them and fastened them together with a lag bolt, angle iron, and steel plates. I then painted the timber a hunter green color. I then fastened the mailbox to the timbers. Then it was ready to place in the ground!
I had purchased this mailbox from Lowes a little over a year ago. It is a HUGE mailbox that can easily accommodate most of the mail and small packages we often receive. In the past, we had ordered photos and other items that had to be bent a bit to fit in the existing mailbox. This mailbox can easily fit an 8" X 11" letter standing up straight with plenty of space to spare!
The mailbox is constructed of solid steel sheet metal. It has the US Mail approval stamped on it. It appears to be well constructed and sturdy enough to stand the test of time. There is some light construction required to mount the box: I needed to assemble the flag and door opener hardware, which took me less than 5 minutes to do with conventional tools.
My six year old son had opened the box the mailbox came in prior to me setting everything up and he walked off with all of the hardware that originally came with the mailbox, so I had to go back to Lowes to purchase replacements. The replacement hardware is cheaper quality than the original (for instance, the new flag is made of plastic vs. the old one was metal). I opted to use a draw pull I had in my spare hardware hell box. The pull is a round, white, ceramic knob with a farm picture printed on the end. It gives the mailbox a more custom and distinctive look!
The only problem I faced during installation was how to mount the mailbox to the T shaped post? The mailbox did not come with mounting hardware. I originally was going to use a wood deck to mount the box on, but felt the wood might rot over time. I ended up purchasing a mailbox mounting kit at Lowes when I bought the replacement flag. The mounting kit consisted of a set of four L shaped metal brackets. Using two of the brackets, I spaced them out to accommodate the size of the box, then screwed them down onto the T. I placed the second set further back to mount the back side of the box. Then I placed the box over these brackets and screwed the box to the bracket. Piece of cake!
The huge box looks very impressive at the foot of my driveway! I had checked with our letter carrier before setting up the mail box to see if they would have any problem with the huge mail box and she exclaimed: "The bigger the better! We love big ones!" So, it meets the approval of my local US Postman. Also, in the past, whenever the letter carrier had an oversized package that would not fit in the smaller box, she would stick it in a plastic bag and hang it on the flag. No more of this!
The mailbox is painted black. I don't know why it only comes in black, but it is no big deal to spray paint it to whatever color I want sometime in the future. The black color does not bother me at all, and I can't think of any reason to paint it any other color so I just left it as it is.
I purchased this box at Lowes for only $20. I initially looked around on the internet for this box and saw it being sold for more money. I should also point out that Lowes sends me coupons for $10 off a "starter project" which I used towards this mailbox, lessening the cost. I would highly recommend it! Now all I have to do is wait for the first mail to arrive in my new mailbox! Thanks for reading my review and best wishes for a nice day!
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
Oven baked, aluminum enameled, galvanized steel with new rib-enforced body design. Size: 11"W x 14"H x 23"L. 13 LBS. 24 gauge steel.More at Amazon Marketplace
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