City of Akron, Ohio - Building Permits and Inspections

City of Akron, Ohio

city

1030 East Tallmadge Avenue, Akron, OH 44310

Required

Required

Two offices share Akron's roofing-permit process, both at 1030 E. Tallmadge Ave., Akron, OH 44310. The City's own Bureau of Engineering, Plans and Permits office (330-375-2010; fax 330-375-2102; Plans&[email protected]; hours 7:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.) is where citywide contractor registration is completed (see registration_details) and where the City's Plan Review and Permit web portal is administered; that same page states plans "must be submitted via the online Plan Review and Permit Portal in PDF format" and that "the city allows reviewers approximately 14 business days for project review," with all permits "valid for 12 months from issue date if work hasn't begun." Actual building/roofing permit issuance and inspection is performed by the Summit County Division of Building Standards at the same street address (330-630-7280; buildingstandards.summitoh.net), which lists Akron among the jurisdictions it serves for residential plan review and inspection. Summit County's own materials note inspections "are to be scheduled 48 Hrs prior to work beginning" and can be booked through the county's 24/7 online CityWorks portal or by phone (Plans and Permits Inspections line, 330-375-2055, per the City's own FAQ). The Summit County Building Permit Application form's RE-ROOF fee ($40 plus the $50 base application fee, i.e., $90 for a straightforward residential re-roof) is payable by check, cash, or major card, and a re-inspection fee schedule applies after any failed inspection: "1st & 2nd Re-inspection $30.00," "3rd Re-inspection $60.00," "4th Re-inspection $80.00."

SET BY STATE RULE -- the identical statewide Ohio framework as the merged Cincinnati/Cleveland/Columbus records. OAC Chapter 4101:8, the 2019 RCO (2018 IRC base) as amended effective March 1, 2024 and April 15, 2024, adopted by the Ohio Board of Building Standards under ORC Chapter 3781; ORC 3781.11 requires statewide uniformity of residential code content, and ORC 3781.01(B) lets a local governing authority (Akron's city council, or -- given the county's operative permitting role here -- Summit County) add non-conflicting local regulations via the division (C) notice procedure. CITY/COUNTY LAYER: Akron's own Codified Ordinances Title 19 (Building Code) is confirmed to exist as a live Municode-hosted title (library.municode.com/oh/akron, nodeId TIT19BUCO), and Summit County separately maintains its own Building Code (codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/summitcounty), linked directly from the Summit County Division of Building Standards' own department page as its "Summit County Building Code." Both instruments were gated to automated access this session: Municode served only a client-side application shell to curl and WebFetch alike (its underlying CodesContent API needs a jobId/productId not discoverable through the public Clients/Products endpoints -- ClientID 959 for Akron was confirmed reachable, but Jobs/Products lookups for that ID returned empty), and amlegal returned an HTTP 403 Cloudflare interstitial ("Just a moment...") to curl, wget, and WebFetch alike. This mirrors the Cleveland precedent exactly: whether either instrument adds a roofing-specific local regulation (e.g., a local drip-edge or impact-resistance rule) beyond incorporating the RCO has not been established in this record.

Not required — SET BY STATE RULE, and a genuine, non-obvious deviation from most other IRC-based states. Ohio's RCO does NOT carry forward the base IRC's prescriptive drip-edge provision. The entire content of RCO Section 905.2.8.5 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019) is, verbatim: "905.2.8.5 Drip edge. Refer to Sections 903.1 and 905.1." Section 903.1 (General) states only: "Roof decks shall be covered with approved roof coverings secured to the building or structure in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Roof assemblies shall be designed and installed in accordance with this code and the approved manufacturer's instructions such that the roof assembly shall serve to protect the building or structure." Section 905.1 (Roof covering application) is a general wind-load-resistance provision, not a drip-edge mandate. There is therefore no numbered Ohio provision requiring a drip edge at eaves and rakes with the usual dimensional and fastening specifications; drip edge in Ohio is, at the state level, effectively governed by the roof-covering manufacturer's approved installation instructions via Section 903.1. Whether Akron or Summit County has exercised its ORC 3781.01(B) authority to add its own local drip-edge requirement has not been established in this record -- neither Akron's Title 19 Building Code nor the Summit County Building Code was accessible in full this session (both amlegal-hosted content is Cloudflare-gated; Akron's Municode-hosted title serves only a client-side shell to automated fetches) -- so 903.1's manufacturer's-instructions standard is confirmed only as the statewide floor, not necessarily the complete picture for Akron. About drip edge

Required — SET BY STATE RULE -- required in Akron exactly as everywhere else in Ohio, because Ohio makes the ice-damming determination statewide by rule rather than leaving it to local option. RCO Table 301.2(1) pre-fills "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required" as "Yes" for the whole state, with footnote (h): "In accordance with Sections 905.1.2, 905.4.3.1, 905.5.3.1, 905.6.3.1, 905.7.3.1 and 905.8.3.1, all jurisdictions in Ohio have a history of local damage from the effects of ice damming." RCO Section 905.1.2 (Ice barriers) provides, verbatim: "In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table 301.2(1), an ice barrier shall be installed for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes. The ice barrier shall consist of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet shall be used in place of normal underlayment and extend from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches (610 mm) inside the exterior wall line of the building. The 24 inch measurement shall be along the slope of the roof from the point where the projected outside face of the wall intersects the roof deck. On roofs with slope equal to or greater than eight units vertical in 12 units horizontal (67-percent slope), the ice barrier shall also be applied not less than 36 inches measured along the roof slope from the eave edge of the building." Exception, verbatim: "Detached accessory structures and roof assemblies terminating at a vertical wall over unconditioned floor areas." About ice & water barrier

Not required — Not established as a sourced affirmative. Neither the City of Akron's Plans and Permits page nor the Summit County Division of Building Standards' own department page or public services booklet (which describes only that the county inspects "New Construction, Additions, Alterations, and Repairs to ensure all work complies with state and local codes throughout the project lifecycle") enumerates a specific list of inspection stages (footing, framing, roof/dry-in, final) for residential reroofing. The Summit County Building Permit Application's own re-inspection fee schedule (charging for a 1st through 4th re-inspection) confirms inspections occur but likewise does not name a discrete mid-roof stage. Recorded here as a sourced negative -- required: false -- consistent with the Cleveland and Columbus precedent, rather than asserting a specific inspection-stage list that was not found in the documents opened this session.

CITY-SPECIFIC (administered via Summit County). No stated layer-count or percentage-based exemption was found in either the City of Akron's or Summit County's own published materials. Summit County's own "Building Permit Application" form (Division of Building Standards, revised 4/24 -- the operative permit application within Akron per the county's service list, see description) prices, under its RESIDENTIAL fee schedule, a distinct "RE-ROOF" line item at "$40+ APP FEE" (on top of the $50 base residential permit application fee), alongside separate SIDING ($55+ app fee), DEMOLITION ($65+ app fee), and FOUNDATION DAMP PROOFING ($30+ app fee) line items -- i.e., a residential re-roof in Akron is treated as a distinct, fee-bearing, full-permit category rather than a minor-repair exemption. No companion document identifies any square-footage, percentage, or layer-count carve-out for roof coverings comparable to Cincinnati's "no more than two layers" exemption.

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Table 301.2(1) ("Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria"), OAC 4101:8-3-01 effective 7/1/2019, pre-fills a Wind Design Speed of 115 mph (ultimate design wind speed) for the entire state -- the value is printed in the rule's own table rather than left blank for local fill-in -- along with Weathering "severe," Termite "moderate to heavy," and Ice Barrier Underlayment Required "Yes." Wind exposure category is determined site-specifically rather than by state or city rule. Ground snow load is the one geographically-varying input and is NOT a statewide constant: the master rule leaves that cell blank, with footnote (o) directing that "The jurisdiction shall fill in this section of the table using the Ground Snow Loads in Figure 301.2(6)" -- each jurisdiction reads its own value off the statewide reference map. No Akron- or Summit-County-specific reading of that map was obtained from an Akron or Summit County primary source this session, so none is stated here (consistent with how the Columbus record treats an unconfirmed county-specific figure).

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Section 908 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019). Section 908.3 Roof replacement, verbatim: "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck. Exception: Where the existing roof assembly includes an ice barrier membrane that is adhered to the roof deck, the existing ice barrier membrane shall be permitted to remain in place and be covered with an additional layer of ice barrier membrane in accordance with Section 905." Section 908.3.1 Roof recover permits installing a new roof covering over an existing one where any of four conditions occur, the first being "Where the new roof covering is installed in accordance with the roof covering manufacturer's approved instructions." Section 908.3.1.1 Roof recover not allowed, verbatim: "A roof recover shall not be permitted where any of the following conditions occur: 1. 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. 2. Where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile. 3. Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." Net effect for the common asphalt-shingle case: one existing layer may be recovered over; once two or more layers already exist, full tear-off to the deck is mandatory -- functionally a one-layer (single recover) limit, identical statewide including in Akron.

SET BY STATE RULE, applying identically in Akron as everywhere else in Ohio. RCO Section 905.2.1 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019) reads verbatim: "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks." Ohio adopted this without amendment from the base 2018 IRC -- Ohio does not add an express "or 1-inch nominal wood boards" allowance to the text. Related, RCO Section 908.3.1.1 forbids a roof 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," the practical deck-condition trigger for tear-off and sheathing replacement.

Summit County's combined state-and-local sales and use tax rate is 6.75%, per the Ohio Department of Taxation's Sales and Use Tax Rate Map (dated March 31, 2026, reflecting rates in effect as of October 2025): a 5.75% state rate (per the map's own note 3, "The current state rate is 5.75%") plus a 0.50% Summit County permissive rate plus a 0.50% transit permissive rate, printed in the map's own county table as "Summit 0.50% 0.50% 6.75%." The map's narrative places the statewide range at 6.50%-8.00%, with 50 of Ohio's 88 counties at a flat 7.25% and the narrative naming Butler, Lorain, Stark, and Wayne as the four lowest-rate counties at 6.50%; Summit's 6.75% sits just above that statewide floor.