How to Clean or Paint Blue Mailboxes
Blue mailboxes are a common target, but, for reasons I don’t understand yet, are not as often hit as the green ones.
While there are several kinds of green ones, there really seem to be only two kinds of blue ones: the traditional painted ones that are navy blue, but not shiny, and the newer ones, like the one above, that is very shiny.
Cleaning Blue Mailboxes
The new ones, like the new shiny green ones, are very easy to clean with graffiti-goof-off (see cleaners page) and tough disposable cloths.
The older ones (which are most of them) are more tricky. If it is marker, then the cleaning will probably work out. Even a lot of paint will come off as well. The problem is that anything that is tough to get off will only come off with a significant amount of paint. After a while, you end up with this big smear of blue. So you have to watch what you’re doing and judge whether it is really going to be worth it.
Painting Blue Mailboxes
If you get permission to paint one, either because the paint won’t come off or because you’re painting an older one, you have a few choices.
These paints, in order, are:
- Rustoleum Satin Indigo
- Valspar Indigo (Satin and Gloss)
- Rustoleum Gloss Enamel Navy
- Rustoluem Painter’s Touch 2-1 Deep Blue
Here is the rundown on each:
The Rustoleum Satin Indigo is a wonderful paint. It is slightly lighter than dark mailboxes, but works well on all of them. It is perfect for the newer mailboxes, like the one above. It has the right finish, in terms of glossiness. This paint is not easily found in hardware stores. I was lucky to find some in Lowe’s.
The Valspar Satin Indigo is the exact color of most blue mailboxes, though slightly darker than the newer, shiny ones. It is a great paint also. The only drawback is that it is just too flat. Also, shake the can well, as the paint easily settles into different, unmixed colors in the can. I think you can only get this paint at Lowe’s. (Note: The Satin is more common, but the Gloss is darker and glossier! It is nearly perfect)
The Rustoleum Gloss Enamel Navy is easy to find, but is just a little too dark and too glossy for most mailboxes. It works well enough if you don’t have a better color.
The Painter’s Touch 2-1 Deep Blue looks, from the cap, like it is just right, but it is too bright a blue. It is a wonderful paint with great cover-up qualities, but it is just a little too bright.
What to use? I think if you had to choose one, it would be the Valspar Indigo. It would be better to have that and the Rustoleum Indigo so you could handle mailboxes of different shades. You can use the Rustoleum Navy if you want, especially on darker mailboxes, but you should use it sparingly - a thick coat just looks way too dark.
