How to Build a Letter Box!

DIY projects are fun, especially if they are practical, “How to Build a Letter Box” is a great project you can do at home with your children over the holidays. This Letter Box is sturdy, inexpensive and very easy to assemble, an excellent way to compliment your home and have fun while building it.

Let’s get started!

What you will need:

Tools:

• Power Saw (Bench Saw)
• Hammer
• Electric Drill and 
• 6mm wood bit (Titan or Alphen)
• Measure Tape
• Square (Carpenter)
• Sandpaper
• Clamps to hold pieces while gluing

Materials:

• Timber: 1 x 2400mm x 190mm (SA Pine or Meranti)
• 140mm Dowel for hinges
• Waterproof wood glue (Alcolin)
• 25mm galvanised nails
• Post or fence mountings as required
• House number and door knob
• Catch or latch
• Finish (Woodoc exterior sealer) or paint (Duram Habitat Collection 90ml Samples for small jobs)

Durams new collection of 90 exquisite colours has been inspired by the natural habitats of South Africa, these colours will take you on a journey across the breath-taking landscapes and unique flora and fauna our country has to offer. From subtle earthbound neutrals to dark inky hues, choosing the perfect colour couldn’t be simpler.

Build it Gansbaai stocks everything you will need for this project, you can order all these items online, from the comfort of your own home and delivered straight to your front door.

Choosing Timber

Choose a durable timber such as a dressed SA Pine or Meranti, that will handle the wet weather conditions. For this project you will have to purchase one dressed plank that is 2400mm Long and 190mm Wide by 19mm High.

Measuring Timber

Measure, mark and cut the following pieces with a bench or handsaw. All pieces will have a height of 19mm.

Roof (155mm): 1 x 400mm (L) x 155mm (W)
Roof (136mm): 1 x 400mm (L) x 136mm (W)
Roof Base: 1 x 400mm (L) x 190mm (W)
Box Base: 1 x 262mm (L) x 160mm (W)
Box Ends: 2 x 165mm (L) x 160mm (W)
Box Front: 1 x 262mm (L) x 115mm (W)
Door: 1 x 260mm (L) x 140mm (W)

Initial Assembly

Now that you have your pieces, start by gluing and nailing the box ends and front to the box base ensuring that the box is square. 

You may need to use clamps when gluing, this is your masterpiece, unless the idea of the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” is what you are aiming for. Separately glue the two parts of the roof together at the ridge with a butt joint, and strengthen with nails or screws.

Hinges

While the glue of the roof is drying, prepare the hinged door. Referring to the image below, simply drill with a 6mm wood bit 50mm into each end of the door. Now drill the corresponding holes in the sides of the box 14mm down from the top. The centre of the holes should be in the middle of the door piece so that the door will close flush with the letter box.

Fit the catch or latch of your choice to the door front.

Applying the finish to the Inside of the Letter Box

Now for the Letter Box is almost complete and the roof is not yet fastened, paint the inside and outside of the roof, both sides of the base and the inside of the box and let dry.

Final Assembly

Attach the door by driving the dowels a short distance into the door, apply some waterproof wood glue to the dowels before fully tapping them in. Place the roof base onto the box, then glue and nail into the box ends. Glue and nail the roof onto the roof base making sure that it sits squarely and leave to dry. 

Great job so far, almost done!

Applying the finish to the Outside of the Letter Box

Now that you have fully assembled your Letter Box, clean and sand till smooth, you can now apply two coats of your chosen finish or paint of choice and let dry.

Decorate

You can now attach your house number and decorate as desired, this is the part, where even the littlest person in the family can have fun with.

All done! Please send us a photo of your new Letter Box, you can upload it in the comments section, we would love to see it!

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Build it Gansbaai offers local delivery, supplying the greater Overberg area with building materials, do-it-yourself home improvement tools, and expert advice.

Build it Gansbaai offers added value services in respect of hardware retailing; embracing all activity within the building materials industry, focusing specifically on the building of; urban, township, rural housing as well as all home improvements and do it yourself.

Build it is a division of the SPAR Group Limited South Africa. A voluntary trading group of individually owned retail stores with more than 10 000 employees across the group, we currently have stores in South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique with plans to expand into Botswana and Zambia in the near future. We view ourselves not only as a supplier of materials, but as a partner to our valued customers in accomplishing their building or renovating projects.