Cleaning up after Nemo
 |
| If your mailbox looks like this, there's a better way |
By Will Collette
During a typical New England winter, snow and ice takes a
toll on property. Mega pot holes appear in roadways, just waiting to flatten
your tires or worse. Snow plows batter and flatten mailboxes.
We can all
weather the storms because, after all, the weather always changes and the snow
and ice always melt.
But repairing storm damaged vehicles and busted up
mailboxes are an expensive aggravations that don’t fix themselves.
You do have some recourse when you suffer pothole damage or a
busted-up mailbox. Plus, there’s a long-term fix to the mailbox problem that I
can personally recommend to you.
Potholes
If your vehicle hit a pothole on a state road and suffered
damage, you can get up to $300 in compensation. It’s state
law. The RI Department of Transportation has a claims procedure on its
website – click here.
CAUTION: you must file a timely claim – within seven days of
incurring the damage.
The RIDOT website tells you what kind of information you
must include with your claim to prove that it’s legit.
Mailboxes
 |
| OK, but you have to lift it up for this to work |
The winter before last, my mailbox was trashed several times
in one season as it had been in previous seasons. Frustrated, I contacted RIDOT and was told that, yes, they would
honor a claim of mailbox damage, pretty much the same way they do it for
potholes. They told me they could pay up to $50.
Rather than test this process, I jerry-rigged a fix and
replaced the post myself.
But I decided to try to figure out a way to storm-proof my
mailbox.
Like many local residents, I tried to armor my mailbox post. I
used football-sized rocks found in abundance on our property on the moraine to
build up a barrier around the mailbox post.
I’ve seen other residents use cinder blocks, bricks,
washtubs filled with cement and in one instance, pieces of steel girders. While
it’s possible to add some protection in this fashion, there’s still that exposed
beam sticking out and vulnerable to a blast from a passing snow plow.
 |
| Simple design , except the mailbox could still get smashed |
Plus there’s a legal problem with armoring your mailbox
because you are creating a genuine traffic hazard. Your attempts at reinforcing the base of the mailbox post could be very bad news for some passing motorist or for you if that motorist smacks into your
mailbox armor.
Cruising the internet, I found that in other states with
lots of snow, there are lots of creative solutions. The general concept is that
when a snowplow runs past your mailbox, the blade of the plow will sling a very
heavy and large load of snow at the box and damage is likely to occur at its
weakest point.
 |
| This would probably work, but it's too complicated for my taste |
That’s usually the post, and that’s why so many of us armor
the base of the post, but at the risk of imperiling motorists (and opening
yourself up to huge liability).
So the concept I found most attractive was try to design a
post that is set back from the road and away from the path of all that heavy
snow.
See the illustrations for some of the alternatives I found.
After looking at various designs, I decided that the best
type for me would have the upright post set several feet back from the road, up
the slight incline as the ground rises from Route One up the moraine. That
would put the post out of reach of flying snowplow snow.
Then I wanted the crosspiece to extend from the upright back
over to the road surface so our mail carrier could reach the box (if the
carrier can’t reach the box, I don’t get any mail).
I wanted to reduce the vulnerability of the mailbox itself.
If it’s rigidly attached to the crosspiece, it becomes an easy target for a ton
of flying snowplowed snow. In some designs, the inventor accounts for this
problem with springs or hinges on the mailbox so it can flex when hit.
I thought that approach was too complicated and opted to
have the mailbox hang from the high crosspiece on heavy lengths of chain. Under
US
Postal Service regulations, your mailbox must be between 41 and 45 inches
off the ground.
 |
| Mike DiRobbio's custom-built plow-proof mailbox came through Nemo like a champion |
With these general parameters in mind, I talked with Dave
DiRobbio who takes care of our snowplowing every season. Dave loved the idea
and immediately brought his brother Mike into the conversation. After doing
some more research, thinking and pencil sketching, Mike came back to me with
the idea of a custom-made mailbox frame.
Since I wanted to hang on to our super-sized Rubbermaid box,
Mike reinforced it with steel bars to keep it from tearing as it swung freely
from chains mounted to the cross-piece down to the USPS prescribed height off
the ground.
 |
| Close up view |
Then Mike, Dave and his son cleared the brush and planted
the mailbox post and frame. You can see for yourself in the photo that their
final product combined functionality with beauty. Plus, I was very happy with
the price.
The big test was Winter Storm Nemo and you can see how
easily my new storm-proof mailbox came through unscathed.
I’ve been encouraging Dave and Mike to market their
new-found skill at designing storm-proof mailboxes. I suspect that at least in
the beginning, any other mailbox projects they do will be custom jobs – designs
tailored to the challenges of the terrain.
Mike and Dave DiRobbio are both well known around
Charlestown for snowplowing, landscaping, septic system and driveway work. And
now storm-proof mailboxes.
Mike’s the guy to talk to about the design – he took my
general ideas and made them real – so you should call him at (401) 714-5016 or
315-2448.
