Roofing questions: Borough of Adamstown, PA
When does a roof repair need a permit in Borough of Adamstown, PA?
Adamstown Borough's codes and pages name no roof work as permit work or as exempt. Chapter 109 of the Borough Code (Ord. No. 311 of 2004, read October 12, 2026) adopts "the standards which the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has adopted as the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code," and its Section 101.2 says "All construction which the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act or the L & I Regulations exempt from compliance with the Uniform Construction Code are exempt from the provisions of this construction code" and that items exempted by Section 403.1(b) "do not have to comply with the construction code but shall comply with all other applicable Borough ordinances." It adopts 34 Pa. Code 403.62 to govern residential permit applications and names no roof work. The Borough's Permits and Forms page (read October 12, 2026) links one form, "Get a Zoning or Building Permit," whose type-of-work boxes include Alteration and Repair and none for roofing; the form, the FAQ ("Permit applications can be downloaded from our borough website") and the 2026 fee schedule (read from the rendered page images) name no roof work either way. A search of the whole Borough Code on eCode360 for "roof" returned 35 results, all definitions, stormwater, sewer, zoning-height and similar provisions, and a search for "reroofing" returned none. Under state law, Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6) list "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" and "Repairs to residential buildings" among work the Act does not apply to, "except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503," and 34 Pa. Code 403.62(c) says "A permit is not required for the exceptions listed in § 403.1(b) (relating to scope) and the following, if the work does not violate a law or ordinance." State law sets no square-footage or percentage threshold for roof work; any threshold is set locally. The Uniform Construction Code "does not apply to" "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress, except as required by ordinances in effect under sections 303(b)(1) or 503 of the act" or to "Repairs to residential buildings, except as required by ordinances in effect under sections 303(b)(1) and 503 of the act" (34 Pa. Code 403.1(b)(8) and (9)), and "A permit is not required for the exceptions listed in § 403.1(b) (relating to scope) and the following, if the work does not violate a law or ordinance" (34 Pa. Code 403.62(c)). For houses the regulation adds: "An ordinary repair does not require a permit." Its list of work that is not an ordinary repair names cutting away a load-bearing wall, "The removal or cutting of any structural beam or load-bearing support," changes to a required means of egress, and new or relocated piping, wiring or mechanical work (34 Pa. Code 403.62(d)); roofing is not named. A municipality may require more: under Act 45 section 503(c) it "may enact ordinances pursuant to this section which adopt additional code requirements for alterations or repairs to residential buildings," after a public hearing and after filing the proposed ordinance with the Department of Labor and Industry. These rules concern a "Residential building," which the regulation defines as "Detached one-family and two-family dwellings and townhouses which are not more than three stories above grade plane in height with a separate means of egress and their accessory structures" (34 Pa. Code 401.1). Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Adamstown Borough administers the code itself: Section 103.1 of its construction code, in Section 109-4 of the Borough Code, says "Borough Council shall appoint a person or persons to serve as a building code official and a construction code official," the building code official will "receive uniform construction code permit applications" and issue building permits, and the Borough office, at 3000 N. Reading Road, takes its "Zoning and Construction Code Permit Application" with a $100 application fee, the 2026 fee schedule listing a "Building/Zoning Permit Application" under "PA Uniform Construction Code (UCC) - Administrative Fees." No Borough text read for this record sets an area or cost threshold for roof work.
Can you roof over an existing roof in Borough of Adamstown, PA?
Two layers at most where the state code reaches the job. Pennsylvania adopts the 2021 International Residential Code without changing its reroofing section, R908 (34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7); the State's list of changes names no Chapter 9 section). Section R908.3.1.1 says "A roof recover shall not be permitted where any of the following conditions occur," and the third condition is "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." So one existing layer may be covered once, and a roof that already has two layers is torn off to the deck. The same section also bars a recover "Where the existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that the existing roof or roof covering is not adequate as a base for additional roofing" and "Where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile." The existing-building code the State also adopts, the 2021 International Existing Building Code (34 Pa. Code 403.21(f)), carries the same three conditions in Section 705.2.1.1. These rules bind work the Uniform Construction Code reaches. The Act does not apply to "Repairs to residential buildings" or to alterations that make no structural change, "except as might be required by ordinances" (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6)), so whether R908 binds a particular house reroof turns on that exclusion and on the municipality's own ordinances. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Adamstown Borough administers the code itself: Section 103.1 of its construction code, in Section 109-4 of the Borough Code, says "Borough Council shall appoint a person or persons to serve as a building code official and a construction code official," the building code official will "receive uniform construction code permit applications" and issue building permits, and the Borough office, at 3000 N. Reading Road, takes its "Zoning and Construction Code Permit Application" with a $100 application fee, the 2026 fee schedule listing a "Building/Zoning Permit Application" under "PA Uniform Construction Code (UCC) - Administrative Fees." Chapter 109 of the Borough Code changes nothing in the code's reroofing provisions, and the Borough's pages say nothing on roof layers. Section 109-3 adopts the Uniform Construction Code "with the following additions to the International Building Code/2006 or such future edition of the International Building Code as may be adopted from time to time," Section 109-4 adopts Chapter 1 of the International Building Code/2003, and the Borough's pages name no edition; the text above is the 2021 edition's, and the 2003 and 2006 editions' reroofing text was not read for this record, which does not decide which edition the Borough applies.
Do roofing contractors need a license or registration in Borough of Adamstown, PA?
Yes.
What building code does Borough of Adamstown, PA use?
The 2021 International Residential Code, as adopted by the State in the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code (UCC). 34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7) adopts "The 'International Residential Code of 2021,' except that:" followed by the State's list of exclusions and modifications, effective January 1, 2026 (55 Pa.B. 7701). None of the State's changes touches Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, or Section R803, Roof Sheathing, so those apply as the International Code Council publishes them. Work on existing buildings is also pointed to the State's existing-building code: "The repair, alteration, change of occupancy, addition and relocation of existing buildings must comply with Chapter 34 of the 'International Building Code of 2021' or with the 'International Existing Building Code of 2021'" (34 Pa. Code 403.21(f)). The UCC is the minimum everywhere in the state: "no municipality may propose or enact any ordinance which is less than the minimum requirement of the Uniform Construction Code" (Pennsylvania Construction Code Act, Act 45 of 1999, section 503(b)). The Act also lists work it "shall not apply to", including "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" or to "Repairs to residential buildings," in each case "except as might be required by ordinances" kept in force under section 303(b)(1) or adopted under section 503 (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6); 34 Pa. Code 403.1(b)(8) and (9)). The Act defines a repair as "The reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing building for the purpose of its maintenance." So whether the code's roofing rules reach a given house reroof depends on the municipality's own ordinances. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Adamstown Borough administers the code itself: Section 103.1 of its construction code, in Section 109-4 of the Borough Code, says "Borough Council shall appoint a person or persons to serve as a building code official and a construction code official," the building code official will "receive uniform construction code permit applications" and issue building permits, and the Borough office, at 3000 N. Reading Road, takes its "Zoning and Construction Code Permit Application" with a $100 application fee, the 2026 fee schedule listing a "Building/Zoning Permit Application" under "PA Uniform Construction Code (UCC) - Administrative Fees." Chapter 109 of the Borough Code (Ord. No. 311 of 2004, read October 12, 2026) adopts "the standards which the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has adopted as the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code," and its Section 101.2 says "All construction which the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act or the L & I Regulations exempt from compliance with the Uniform Construction Code are exempt from the provisions of this construction code" and that items exempted by Section 403.1(b) "do not have to comply with the construction code but shall comply with all other applicable Borough ordinances." It adopts 34 Pa. Code 403.62 to govern residential permit applications and names no roof work. Section 109-3 adopts the Uniform Construction Code "with the following additions to the International Building Code/2006 or such future edition of the International Building Code as may be adopted from time to time," Section 109-4 adopts Chapter 1 of the International Building Code/2003, and the Borough's pages name no edition; this record has not read the 2003 or 2006 edition's text and does not decide which edition the Borough applies.