Why have anything there? I'd take all the brick out and just have a mailbox there.

I think to caution others from taking the corner too sharp and winding up in the drainage ditch... although I'm not sure that's any worse than running over a brick wall! Honestly, it was here when we bought the house... and I haven't given it much thought until now, so I'm asking GW what they would do!

It looks like your house is all brick? A bit hard to tell from the photos, but I would just rebuilt the brick wall and do the iron mailbox you like. You could do brick with a decorative iron railing on top, but without repeating the iron somewhere else on your property, I'm not sure it would visually make a lot of sense. Another option is to do brick with a decorative concrete ball end cap/lantern on the corner so people can watch out for the corner a little better in their mirrors.

Yeah, you do need something to mark that there is a drainage ditch. Due to the unavailability of your current brick, turn in a quote to get both sides done with matching comparable brick. Lucky it was Fedex and not some hack company. The claim should go through with no problem.

I think you need something sturdier than a wooden fence, although i do like the look of the one Tibb posted.

I would want a guard rail there, but camouflaged in some way.

I'm still trying to figure out how he took such a large chunk out of the wall! We've had UPS hit our gate keypad at least 3 times so I'm familiar with large trucks trying to cut corners, but your Fedex guy takes the prize!

Ideally, I would replace the wall on each side but I'd add a column with lanterns on top so people can tell where the edge of your driveway is. Unfortunately, it appears the your home builder didn't run any electrical out there so you probably won't be installing any lights : ( . It will be interesting to see how the mason contractors deal with the brick that meshes with the concrete slope, not to mention the culvert. Definitely not a straightforward job.

Here's a link that should give you some ideas. Me, I would choose to rebuild the wall and keep the mailbox separate.

I watched the fedex guy use our handrailing on this complex to slide a heavy package up the steps. If he had been smart, he would have used the driveway and avoided 2 stories of steps. The box had a big hole in it by the time he got to the top

I think the brick is nice, and you do need a barrier there so people don't end up in the drink. Having the mailbox protected is also a good thing as, at least in our area, mailboxes are frequent victims of bored teens. However, I think, even though the drive appears wide, it would be better if the walls were curved to widen out into the street. Most drives typically flare at the end to accommodate the back ends of turning vehicles.

Our neighbor just put in an engineered "split rail fence" with solar light top caps on the posts. His PC kept running off the drive into the culvert. It is difficult to get a car in and out of a double wide driveway, it would seem, so I totally understand how a truck couldn't do it. Perhaps the height needs to be tall enough it can be seen out side windows? One is led to assume the wall stood for sometime w/o incident and yet given the damage I would be looking for something less penetrable. Fed ex is on the line here but if a passenger car fell off the edge, snapped an axle?, rolled?, your home owners ins. would be the ones paying out.

In your situation I would hire a landscape designer on your own to redesign the entry, if you aren't satisfied with it. (Make sure any estimates include demo and removal of the existing wall.) Since your brick is no longer available and to make you "whole" again, both sides should match and that means Fed Ex should rebuild both walls in the available brick. The mailbox cost would obviously be at your own expense if the existing one can be reused.

We have had similar problems with our entry gate and the brick piers on our bridge. Our small private trash hauling company bashed the front gate and the drivers lied about it. We didn't have video of them doing it, but from the code history we knew they were the only truck that entered the gates that day. They refused to pay...we could have sued them but the damage was only about $600, so we didn't. We also did not claim it on our homeowners as our deductible is higher than the damage.

One or more of the brick piers on the bridge have also been knocked down four times in the last nine years by drivers with long truck beds or trailers who did not understand the simplest principles of geometry or physics. I usually collected the money from the drivers, offering them a "pay me now or be reported to your company for poor driving" deal.

I would definitely not use wood or wrought iron. When iron is hit by a car it has to be refabricated or hammered back straight and that usually takes longer than brick to fix. (We have decorative wrought iron between four brick piers on each side of our bridge and it has been damaged twice in four years.) Wood doesn't seem to go with your house, and you already have brick around your culvert anyway.

Adding, re lights----would def do them! You can probably use your existing electrical service since the house isn't too far away from the street. When we put lights at our entry nine years ago, we had to put in a completely separate service/meter for the electrical stuff. It was about $1500 at that time, but well worth it so we could find our driveway in the dark! Four years later we added the gated entry and already had service for it. It all uses very little electricity but the cost is $35 per month b/c that is a minimum charge from our energy co-op. We know lots of people who have gates powered by solar energy though----you might try that for lights on your new brick walls,

Put fortified railroad ties as a guardrail in there. That way, they'll hold if a car or truck hits them, but they don't damage the vehicle if they move sideways against them.

Do you really need something on both sides of the driveway? Perhaps a low stone wall on the drainage ditch side, and put the mailbox on that side, or even a stone wall on the right and a mailbox on a post on the left. I don't think that brick mailbox protector is doing much for your curb appeal.

I would move the mailbox over and flare the edges of the driveway to make the turn easier. I can't believe that wall lasted that long butted up to the road.....

I think railroad ties may be too rustic.

You haven't specified a budget, but I think entries are very important, and frankly they are often done poorly. I too would suggest using a landscape designer if you are willing to supplement the claim proceeds. Id rather see more harmony between the decorative elements and the functional culvert.

Personally I think a fence would be nicer then repeating the brick. But perhaps stone, esp. if you have that element elsewhere.

I agree w/mtrd....entries are important! You have a pretty, meandering driveway, since you have to replace the damaged brick wall I would use the opportunity to make the entrance to your drive more special. I could see two brick walls that would flare out with a decorative cast concrete (to look like stone) cap and large lantern style lights. You could get pretty iron house numbers to attach, etc. I really like your house & yard!

I agree that flaring the driveway would look great, but it will be a costly job. Besides dealing with the existing culvert and sloping concrete the owner would also have to extend the sides of the existing driveway..........which would be a lot of expense before the OP even tackles the barrier issue. It all depends on gracefullyaged's budget! ;)

Like kswl2, we also had power run out to our entry but our cost was between 2-3K which also included cutting into the roadbed so electrical could be run to the opposite side of the road.

I want to thank everyone for
all of your sage advice. I have a
landscape designer coming on Wednesday. I
have no idea why I didn’t think of that – he is already in the process of
drawing plans for our backyard (we want to add a pool this spring that will
require a lot of updates to our existing landscape). He will prepare an estimate for Fed Ex for an
even replacement of what we already have, but also draw plans for something “more
special” and we will pay the difference.
I was most worried about seeming greedy or trying to take advantage by
asking Fed Ex to replace both sides rather than only the side their truck damaged since the brick is no longer made, but
several of you have made me feel like that is a rational request.

I initially contacted a
couple of different brick masons; however, I think they’re used to being
subcontractors. They both gave me their
price for labor, a list of materials for me to obtain, and said they don’t take
care of disposal of the demolition… I am so glad that I posted here!

We also DO have electricity out there (an outlet
at the base of each wall) – I love the idea of lights! Thanks again!