Are you a business, part of collective of businesses sharing an office space, or just someone in charge of installing a mailbox?
You’ve probably seen those large commercial mailboxes lining neighborhoods and business complexes and wonder how you can do it too.
Well, the good news for you is that it’s actually easy to install a mailbox!
No matter what kind or how many commercial mailboxes you’re looking to install, we have a guide that will take you from beginning to end of the installation process in five easy steps.
Gather Your Tools
First thing’s first: you’ll want to get the tools you need. While the specifics of these tools could change, depending on the mailbox specification, you’ll generally need:
- Drill
- Torque wrench
- Socket Wrench
- Anchor Bolts
- Gasket sheet
- Washers and nuts
- spirit level
Now that you have the tools necessary for the job, it’s probably a good idea to review the United States Postal Service’s standards for commercial mailboxes.
This might help you with picking your mailbox (the next step) and may help you avoid errors that may be difficult to fix toward the end.
1. Find the Right Unit
When picking a unit, you might have more options to consider than you originally thought.
If you’re looking at commercial mailboxes, you may be looking at a high-security cluster box unit, a traditional decorative cluster box unit, or plenty of others.
There are a lot of options, so make a good choice.
2. Pour the Concrete Slab
Now you have to prepare your area.
Find out where is best to put your mailbox so that it is easily accessible to all who need to use it.
Before you actually pour the concrete (or have it poured), make sure that you follow the United States Postal Service’s concrete foundation specifications.
After the concrete is in place and dried, use your drill to drill holes for the anchor bolts that will keep the mailbox held down. Pay attention to any materials that came with your unit to measure how far apart to drill.
3. Set the Pedestal
Clean the surface of the concrete slab after drilling. Place your gasket sheet over the drilled holes which will be a barrier between the mailbox and concrete for stability.
Set the pedestal on the gasket sheet, check that the level is even, and if it’s not, use washers in the drilled holes where it’s sagging until it’s even.
Set the anchor bolts into the drilled holes and use your socket wrench to tighten them.
4. Affix Commercial Mailbox to Pedestal
Have two people for this step: one person to hold the unit steady and one person to do the fastening.
Once in place, locate two access panels on the bottom lockers and pull them out.
Place a washer and a nut on all the bolts and use your socket wrench to make sure they are fastened tight.
Replace the panels on the bottom of the lockers and close the mailbox.
5. Contact the Post Office
You’re pretty much done!
Now all you have to do is contact the post office to tell them about your newly installed mailbox and they will come to install locks.
Installing a Mailbox with National Mailboxes
At National Mailboxes, we understand even easy-to-install mailboxes may seem overwhelming at first.
If you have any more questions about how to install a mailbox or want a free quote for installing a mailbox, please feel free to contact us right away!
