Plans for a brick mailbox

[chuychanga]

I want to build a brick mailbox. I've laid tile, built rock walls and patios with mortar, but never laid brick. I've been reading up on it, and it sounds tedious but not too far out of my league.

But, I'm having trouble with the design. I want a typical square mailbox housing, with a flat roof of bricks and a built-in planter on each side. Is the mailbox housing just left hollow? If so what do I use to support mailbox and the roof of bricks?

Are you supposed to put cinder blocks on the inside and mortar them together in layers all the way up? Or just fill the entire thing with continuous brick? Or just leave the brick hollow and fabricate a wood or cement backerboard ceiling to support the bricks on top? I've got a couple of books on masonry, but none of them address putting a roof on something.

 

[chuychanga]

Nevermind, I found the answer. It turn out that some genius made cinder blocks exactly twice as tall as a standard brick. So you build it with cinder blocks and then lay two courses of brick around each course of block. Makes sense. Who would have thunk it?

 

[B]

I was just about to tell you that.

 

[schnarkle]

The link

I've laid brick for years, and wish you the best of luck. It is very difficult to just read a book or two, pick up a trowel and go for it. I can spot mailboxes made this way from a mile off. I don't want to sound discouraging, but if you get in a bind, feel free to give my dad a call at the above link. He can hook you up with a professionally made one in a couple of hours at most.

good luck with it.

 

[suttree]

At my Dad's house up in Kingwood we had a problem with high schoolers knocking over our mailbox in retaliation for various of my misdeeds. We had a mailbox on a railroad tie type deal, and they would nuke it pretty good with a baseball bat.

We did a brick one, and they would just push it over with a truck bumper.

Finally, my Dad got pissed and told me I was responsible for making a mailbox that would withstand all comers, and I had to pay for the construction.

I took a pickaxe and dug straight down about 3.5 feet in the outline of the mailbox, and the made it a bell bottom pier. My dad works for a steel company, so he got me some big-*** rebar (like the crap they use on freeways). I tied together the rebar in a cage that was about 7 feet tall, and dropped it in the hole (supported on the bottom with chairs).

I then made a plywood form, and poured in about 9 sacks of ready mix. My Dad also got me a commercial concerete vibrator to make sure it settled down there real good.

I covered the concrete with brick pavers, and attached some industrial strength mailbox to the concrete with the 18 inch bolts I had put in the concrete as it cured.

I didn't see it happen, but apparently the next attack resulted in about $1,500 of property damage to this dude's truck. Same dude had been doing it all along because I had taken some liberties with his girlfriend at a party.

It still stands today without a scratch.

 

[chuychanga]

Thanks for the advice. I've been throwing mortar on stone projects for a while. I know it's harder to hide imperfections with brick, but I've been wanting to do it for a while and I figured a simple mailbox is a good small project to start with. I want the satisfaction of knowing I built it myself, but if I get stuck on it I'll llook up your dad.