How do you make a letter box cage on the cheap?

[Ottavio Caruso]

Local hardware stores (West Birmingham) don't even have it in stock.

Online (*azon, *bay) they go for £10+ but can I make one myself?

The door letter home is about 4cm thick.

[Rob Morley]

You can get a piece of weldmesh from Wickes for £7.50 but that's not much of a saving for the effort involved.

[Jeff Layman]

I guess it depends exactly what you want it for, but an old A4 box file might be converted - especially if the lid won't stay closed and can be removed.

For something basically free, and just to stop any letters dropping on the floor, I guess you could cut the top off a 6-litre milk bottle and fix that to the door below the letter box.

[Bob Eager]

Nick a wire shopping basket and modify with wire cutters...

Or a deep stationery basket...

[Animal]

scrap metal, plastic, wood, whatever you want. I don't know whether you can make one yourself or not. Metal has the upside of some fire resistance.

[wasbit]

I installed one for an elderly neighbour who's re-homed dog kept ripping up the letters. £14 from Amazon. Not worth the effort to even source the materials IMO.

[whisky-dave]

and duct tape it in place, or for the more skilled, velcro or cable ties, P clips :-)

[Nick Odell]

I'd agree with you under normal circumstances. I wanted something that would prevent my mail from spilling out over the doormat and becoming a visible signal to potential burglars while I am away from home for extended periods of time. Trouble is, my front door opens directly onto an internal wall so I needed something that would collapse when opening the door.

I played with ideas similar to the self-lifting curtain rod for fitting behind doors. Then in a lightbulb moment I realised that the only reason I needed it was to account for times when nobody was there and if nobody is there, who cares what it looks like? My solution was an old Royal Mail post sack pinned behind the letterbox so that all the post drops inside it.

Nick

[Tim Lamb]

Indeed! I successfully reduced the size of a freezer basket using white insulating tape. 6 months service so far:-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

Perfect!

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

UPVC door, with awkward contours on the rear face, so nothing I could buy ready-made would fit/work. The dog tended to grab anything which came through the door, so I needed a solution.

I had in stock 3/8" ply, and alloy sheet, painted, with a fluted profile. I made two side panels from the ply, rounded top and bottom with a large diameter, with the edge to go against the door made to accommodate the door face profile.

I then cut a strip of the alloy sheet, long enough to wrap around the shape of the sides, leaving a gap where it fitted against the letter flap. I pinned the sheet to the ply sides, with panel pins.

I didn't bother with hinges, I simply added a bit of alloy sheet clamped by the letter internal flap, with the upper edge protruding, and bent out from the door.

The box just hooks onto the above. It's not pretty, but it works. Any mail which comes in, collects in the box, and I just lift the box of the 'hinge' to take the mail out.

[Harry Bloomfield Esq]

I like that idea, of a flexible 'box'. That had never occurred to me as a solution.

[Rob Morley]

I could, and I have a scrap stash so I could do it at no cost in a variety of recycled materials, but it wasn't me asking how.

[Rob Morley]

It had occurred to me when pondering upthread how I might fit a basket to my letter slot, which is vertical beside a glazed panel, below the night latch and above the pull handle. So I'd hang a mesh bag between the latch knob and the pull handle, supported on a wire frame to hold it open around the slot and allow the flap to hinge freely. With a zip in the bottom to empty it. Except I wouldn't because we don't have animals that shred mail left on the doormat, and it can't be seen from outside. Phew, saved some hassle there.

[Adam Funk]

Smart!

I'm slightly confused by the fact that people outside can see letters on the doormat but not see the box or bag on the inside, though. I guess with the kind of bag you describe they can't tell whether the bag is empty or not, but they would have seen the state of a mesh box.

[Nick Odell]

It's a wooden door, glazed above the letterbox. You can't see anything that drops down inside immediately below the letterbox but as the post mounts up over the days, it spills beyond the door into the hallway and becomes visible through the frosted glass of the door and is obviously untouched. Instead,the bag traps it all behind the line of sight.

Nick

[Adam Funk]

That makes sense, thanks.