On the roof

Because of the poor weather, we’ve had a roof replacement job ongoing on and off for almost four weeks. It was finally completed yesterday so today I decided to climb to the rooftop to see the result for myself.

Our house roof, although rather high up, is not exactly the kind the Drifters were singing about but at least it looks good now. We thought standing-seam roofing would fit an older house like ours best but found traditional machine-seamed roofs made on the spot by tinsmiths rather expensive. So we chose Ruukki Classic steel sheets that very much resemble traditional seamed roofing.

Amazingly, the product comes with a 50-year warranty for technical performance and a 20-year warranty for aesthetic performance. I guess the latter wouldn’t cover changes in any madam’s aesthetic taste but refers to the paint finishing’s keeping its colour and staying undamaged for at least two decades. I wish companies would start using plain language instead of the gibberish jargon that is seen everywhere these days.

However, we are happy with everything about the roof except for the overly long truck trailer combination that delivered the material. It was just 15 cm shorter than the maximum length allowed by EU so the stuff had to be unloaded behind our barn quite far from the working site. Moreover, the driver had no other option than to take the vehicle to a neighbour’s field to turn it. He also had to drive the tight 90-degree turn behind the barn full speed through the ditch tearing the fenders of the two-week-old trailer on both sides, one when arriving and the other when departing.

I’ve realized that with age I can’t stand heights as easily as I used to. Nevertheless, now that the roof safety products were updated I climbed to the top without any difficulty, although feeling slightly insecure. As descending from the top went equally smoothly I am rather proud of myself.

I made it by trying to keep my eyes on the next step of the ladder or on the horizon and by not looking straight down to the darkness. This would be quite an excellent guideline to follow in your life also elsewhere than on rooftops.