The Post Box

Letter boxes are part of life, and are often something we take for granted. They are, however, one of the ways we communicate with the outside world, as mail delivered to our property can be important – though a lot of junk mail is delivered as well!

We do not often give a thought about our letter box, what it is made of or what style or colour it is. All we think about is receiving our mail. However, there is a wide range of colours of letter boxes on the market and if the letter box is fixed to your front door, you might want to consider how aesthetically pleasing it is. When developers are building new properties, they will not often consider the style of letter box required, but install a standard front door with a slot design. In new buildings, the letter box will be of a colour to complement the colour of the front door. This can of course be changed at a later date.

There are four basic designs of letter boxes - a simple slot in the door, a box attached directly on to your house, a Post Box on the street and a unit which is designed for multi occupancy buildings which provides letter boxes for individual residents. The letter Boxes can be made from stainless steel, aluminium, cast iron, uPVC and even plastic. Within the basic four designs, there are different styles of letter boxes to suit the style of your home.

The simple slot in the door design of letter box is generally a standard size of 30cm by 5cm (12 inches by 2 inches) to accept the standard A4 envelope. These letter boxes are available in uPVC, steel and aluminium to suit the style of your front door. There are also different colours of letter boxes. A slot design of Letterbox is often pre-fitted into a new door, whether it is uPVC or of timber construction. However, you may at some stage want to change the letter box, due to it becoming damaged or has started to rattle. It is relatively easy to amend the size of a timber door, should the new letter box be slightly larger, but it is not so easy to resize a uPVC door, and you may need to call in a professional to get his advice.

Letter boxes which are attached to the wall beside the door can be of many styles and colours and you will have more choice. There is also a wider range of materials used in constructing the letter box and of course it will be much easier to change. There are letter boxes available with newspaper holders built in, large capacity newspaper letter boxes, letter boxes which are more stylish made from non corrosive plastic, and letter boxes made from decorative cast aluminium which is more suitable for an older style property.

All letter boxes should be weather proof. If you live by the coast you may want to consider a letter box made from non corrosive materials so that your letter box does not rust and allow water in which will damage your mail.

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