Here are some pics of my Brick Mail Box. I want to move it to the other side if the driveway. Then I can park my boat properly. I plan to use a Brick saw to free up the brick and then have a new base ready for it on the other side of the driveway.

I'm worried that the brick will split apart, can anybody offer some words of advice ? Never done anything like this before. The challenging part will be moving it. If I push it on its side onto a wheeled dolly thing (no idea what its called) I hope it doesn't fall to pieces.

 

There's so much more to this structure that just cutting the brick won't work. There is an infrastructure, probably of concrete block making the core with the bricks just a a facade. Even if you are able to free it up from its base, it will weigh quite literally 800 lbs or more. In addition, whoever constructed it may have used rebar in the concrete base, bent upward into the concrete block to stabilize it.

 

Can you poke around and determine how large and how deep the footing is for this mailbox ?

Silly as it may sound, I once moved the footing for a circular (rotating) clothesline to a sunnier and less obvious location by excavating the whole thing and dislodging it for a move to a new and well prepared hole in the ground some 75' away.

It eliminated the need to re-pour a base (4 or 5 bags of concrete), and I just kept adding soil as it settled in at its new location. Now, some 25 years later, you'd never know that it was once installed somewhere else.

Just an idea. Might need the short term use of a back-hoe for the move; but another, antique technique might be formulated for this short and level 15-20' move . . . . think Egyptian !

 

I have an excavator (track hoe) and good sized front end loader so I might approach it differently than many. Because of the issues Chandler mentioned I would try to move the thing whole. First I would dig around the base to expose the footer. Then run chains around the footer and pick up the whole thing in one piece and move it to the new location. Obviously this plan requires something strong enough to pick up a ton (literally).

If you don't have access to heavy equipment working like an Egyptian is not as crazy as it sounds. You could dig around the base to expose the footer. Then, with a helper use levers underneath one side of the footer lift the side and put dirt underneath. Then move to the other side and repeat the process and keep going util you get it up to ground level. Then put wide boards or a piece of plywood underneath as a sled. Then put rollers underneath the sled. The rollers could be sections of pipe, straight logs or anything round. Larger diameter will roll easier. And roll the thing over to it's new location. Remove the rollers and sled. Tip it a bit to one side and dig underneath then move to the other side and progressively work back and forth until you get it to the depth you want.

 

I certainly agree with what the others is said, the only way to move this is going to be to move the entire thing including the footer. Trying to break it loose from the footer is going to be about how you probably won't win and if you do the likelihood that the entire thing will fall apart is very high.

 

Interesting Ideas. I could try and excavate the concrete base and move that way. At work we have an engine lifter similar to the one below. I think even if this goes bad and the mailbox breaks apart at least I can park my boat along the side of my house properly. I might need to have a temporary mailbox on hand just in case lol. The other issue is that it is not quite level. But I think I could lay something heavy to stop it from rolling away as it's less than 5deg of incline. A couple of guys to push should stop it from getting away from us.

Time to think Egyptian although I don't think they had access to engine lifters

 

These references to Egyptian remind me of the scene in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments with a thousand slaves being worked by taskmasters using whips. I don't think that will be acceptable in this day and age.

 

I think building a new one and demolishing the old one is the simplest way.

 

I gotta agree with Ray. If that thing is as massive as has been discussed it won't be removed from its present location or moved to the new with an engine hoist. Maybe an auto wrecker could do it but otherwise a fairly large backhoe or excavator would be needed in my opinion. Then leveling and setting in the new location would be required as well.