I got a call no old-house owner wants—I mentally tallied the cost of a roof renovation

“I really wouldn’t want to call you about this now, but the house roof is leaking.”

My heart skipped a beat.

Then I took the deepest breath possible, inhaling and exhaling, and mentally added up the average cost of a roof renovation.

I was in Helsinki at the time, and my sister was house-sitting. After an extremely heavy day of rain, water started dripping onto the living room floor. It came through the sub-ceiling, and above it there was still a very tall, unfinished attic, so of course I pictured the entire attic already flooding in my mind. At any moment, all the intermediate ceilings, attic junk, and thousands of cubic meters of water would come crashing down on all the beauty I’d created in the house over these four years.

Naturally, my sister had to go to the attic right away to check on the situation, but the attic’s heavy, solid-wood old ladder had been moved aside and she couldn’t put it back alone. We had to think of something fast.

At that very moment, I was texting with my neighbor about other matters and asked if he could possibly help my sister with the ladder. Of course he went right away, because that’s what small villages and the people in them do.

I was waiting in Helsinki for another update call. I sat in my favorite armchair in a complete daze, staring at the wall. My teenagers grew worried. I explained the situation to them, and my 17-year-old remarked with maddening accuracy: “That’s exactly how it is with old houses, there’s always something. I hope all your money won’t end up going into that roof renovation, because we’ve got our own needs too.”

I would have laughed if I wasn’t so close to tears.

Half an hour later, our neighbor Markku called: “Good news!”

I jumped up, threw one hand dramatically to my chest like in a movie, and immediately shouted to my boys: GOOD NEWS!

The roof wasn’t leaking after all, but during the heavy downpours, water had seeped in by the edge of a TV antenna installed on the roof ages ago. It used to dry on its own without causing much trouble, but now there had been so much rain that the water had come all the way into the living room. The hole could be easily patched, and I could continue my nerve-wracking gamble a little longer, wondering how long my quite old composite roof would hold up.

Of course, i have already the new roof. The house will have a beautiful black metal roof, just as eaveless and old-fashioned as the current one, with chains at the ends to guide the water. The price tag, however, is scary. Until now, I’ve peacefully focused on the aesthetics of my house and taken it easy, but this is the first time I’ve really had to dig deep into my pocket.

Still, nearly every day I think about the mental well-being and all kinds of happiness this house has so generously given me over these four years. One way or another, I’ll figure out this roof situation too.

My dear house is truly worth it, and things always have a way of working out.