Melanie showed you how to revamp a tired mailbox here, but what if your mailbox does not work in the spot the builder dropped it? Consider moving it.

Our house has a grassy strip between our driveway and the neighbors driveway. On this curb is where we have both been putting the trashcan on pickup days, but we have both been having a problem with our mailboxes, which are on the other sides, being blocked by cars.

Old spot and unpainted, therefore non HOA compliant post

The builder will usually drop the mailbox on opposite sides of neighboring driveways rather that putting them together. For our court that was a problem. We have a large number of teenagers on the court, so for a few years will have a larger number of cars that need to park there. If you do not leave enough clearance for the mailman you will get a notice reminding that you must do so, even if the car blocking the mail truck access is not one of yours.

We talked to our neighbor and asked how they would feel about moving the mailboxes to the center strip. She asked her sister-in-law who is a postal supervisor of some type and we checked the property platte. The first 2 feet of the grassy strip does not belong to either of us, it is set aside for utilities etc. Perfect!  As their post needed to be replaced and ours was non-compliant with HOA covenants regarding paint when we moved in, we opted to get two new posts and paint them the designated HOA green.

We plotted out how we wanted the new area to look by arranging bricks that would provide the separation between lawn and post area. The bricks will be sunk into ground for ease of mowing. you can see their mailbox there. Usually there is a car parked right in front of that mailbox too. Continue reading →