Are you looking for an easy, no dig, no concrete option for replacing your mailbox and post?
If so, this video is for you. Whether your mailbox got knocked over or you just want
a new one…or in my case, the mailman jamming boxes that don’t really fit and causing
the post to break and you need to get a new one up fast…whatever the case, I’m gonna
show you how to install a mailbox post DIY…with no digging involved. And I’m doing this
for the first time, so you can learn along with me. I’ll show you how I completed the
whole project and by the end of the video, I’ll tell you what I think about it and
if I would do it again. Like most things, preparation is the key before
getting started. When looking at my options, I came to an in-ground anchor post kit made
by Gilbralter Mailboxes which involves a steel stake that goes into the ground and then a
4 by 4 wood post that goes onto the stake, I’ll show you all of this in a minute so
don’t click away. Gibralter is a popular name in mailboxes, and according to their
website, they’ve been around since 1957. As a heads up, no one is sponsoring this video,
so I’m not recommending anything, I’m just telling you the products I used and where
I got them. For this kit, I was able to get it from the Home Depot for $15.90. Well I
actually got it twice, because the first one I bought had lumber that was cracked and I
didn’t want to risk breaking it when I had to drive it onto the stake. So I returned
that one and got another one; the second one was fine, so I don’t know if this is a typical
issue or just a rare one, but either case I had a kit that was ready to go.
So as you can see, the wood is pre-drilled to make it fairly easy to get the wood onto
the stake. And how it works is that you drive the thick part of the stake into the ground,
leaving the narrower part above the ground and then this is the part the wood post goes
over so it can stand up and support the mailbox. Now one thing that concerned me about the
wood is that it wasn’t treated. While the wood won’t be in the ground with this set-up,
it will be sitting on it…so the bottom of the post could get damp and start to rot and
possibly get bugs in it or whatever so I decided to just paint the bottom of the post really
quickly with some spray paint just to give it a little extra barrier there. Not in the
instructions, just something extra I wanted to do to maybe just add a little extra life
to it. So to get started with anchoring the post,
I measured how far off the road I wanted the post to be so that the opening of mailbox
would be at the proper distance in regards to the road so that it was close enough for
the mailman to put the mail in, but not hanging over the road where it could get hit.
Once I got that figured out, I used a ‘decent’ sized hammer to pound the steel stake in.
As you can see I didn’t use a big sledge hammer because I wanted to go slow and make
sure I was pounding it in straight. To doublecheck that, I used a level a couple of times before
I got the stake all the way driven in.
After the stake was in, I put the wood post on top of stake to start driving it on. Interestingly,
the instructions on the website said to do this in this order, while the instructions
on the box said to put the stake in the post before driving it into the ground. I was concerned
that, even though the wood post was drilled out, that too much hammering could split the
wood. And also because of that concern, I decided to use a mallet instead of a hammer
to prevent a potential split. After I got it started, I also was able to use my own
weight to push it down some without the impact of pounding on the wood.
I doublechecked again with the level to make sure it was straight and other than a couple
little side-taps, I was good there. Driving the wood the last couple of inches
was getting harder so I used the hammer fairly gently to finish it off. So I accomplished
my goal of not splitting the post. Now at the end of the video, I’ll tell you what
I think about the install and how sturdy it is.
But before I get that, and now that I got the post in, the next thing to finish up this
project was to put the mailbox post sleeve over the wood. Now you can use any 4 X 4 mailbox
sleeve you want, as long as it fastens within about 23 inches from the bottom because that’s
the length of the post. The mailbox post sleeve and mailbox I used was one by Postal PRO named
the Madison Mailbox and Post kit. I also got this from Home Depot and it cost $47.48. I
liked the look of it from the picture on the box and the website, but I have to admit it
looked a little more plastic-y in person. Anyway, it just slips over the wood post and
then you have to put in 4 screws that go through the sleeve and into the wood post. Before
I bought the mailbox kit, I did made sure that all of the screws would go in within
23” from the ground so I knew I wouldn’t have any issues there.
The next step is attaching the mounting bracket to the mailbox post; the mounting bracket
is what the actual mailbox connects to. For this particular kit, there’s 4 screws you
screw in from the top as you can see me doing. And then the last step is attaching the mailbox
to the mounting bracket. For this set-up, again, there are 4 screws you drive in from
the side. So you have a total of 12 screws that you have to install for the whole project.
And there you go, all installed. So what do I think? Well, overall this was
a pretty easy project to complete and probably only took 15 to 20 minutes total to complete
once I had all the tools and both the anchoring and mailbox kits ready to go. Attaching the
mailbox post sleeve and mailbox was super easy, so there’s not too much to say there.
Probably the thing you’re wondering most about was using the no-dig Gibralter anchor
post kit. I have to say it really wasn’t that hard to drive the stake into the ground,
and I think has long as you don’t have super hard or rocky ground to work with, most people
could get it in there, you don’t have to be a muscle-bound guy to do this…I mean,
just look at me. So I think it’s a real easy and quick DIY project to complete. Now
I will say, I’m not sure how it will hold up over time. It doesn’t feel super-sturdy
when you pull and push on the post. Having said that, when I’ve put some decent pressure
on it, while it flexes, it does come back to the original position everytime. I’m
sure Gibralter engineered this to be as cost-effective as possible while still doing the job, but
there’s a couple of things I think they could’ve done to make it feel more solid
or sturdy. One would be to use a longer wood post, for a little more support for the post
sleeve and also because some sleeves might require a higher attachment point for the
screws to go in at. I also think using treated lumber would make sense since the wood post
will be sitting right on top of the ground. The other thing I think could be done, or
maybe someone could do on their own is to attach smaller metal stakes around the main
stake to give it more support. Again, I’m sure the company studied this a lot and found
that what they sell works, so these are just my own thoughts. But overall, I would say
I’m happy with how easy it was to install, it’s doing the job, and I would consider
doing it again depending on how it holds up. I’ll keep you posted.
Anyways, I hoped you like the video and if you did, please like it. And if you enjoy
doing a variety of DIY projects, definitely consider subscribing as I’m looking to do
a lot of different types of videos on this channel. And if you’re interested in DIY
investing and financial types of videos, check out my first channel, Healthy, Wealthy, and
Wise…I’ll link it for you in the description. Thanks so much for watching and have a great
day!