Town of Chesterton Building Department

Town of Chesterton, Indiana

city

1490 Broadway, Suite 5, Chesterton, IN 46304

Required

Required

WHERE. The Building Department is at 1490 Broadway, Suite 5, Chesterton, IN 46304, on 219-926-2610, email [email protected]. Its Building Department Administrator is Tristan Dybas. Under section 5-42(B), permits are issued by the Building Commissioner on the Commissioner's forms, and fees are paid to the Clerk-Treasurer. Article I of Chapter 5, which Ordinance 2025-29 did not replace, assigns the Building Commissioner's duties to the Chief Fire Inspector of the Fire Department. REGISTER FIRST. A contractor must be registered and approved before applying for a permit. Chesterton keeps its own register, and a Porter County registration does not stand in for it. WHAT IS FILED. Section 5-41 asks every building permit application for a legal description, a site plan, and a plat or sketch with plans and specifications showing the work. Much of it is written for new construction, so ask what the Town wants for a straight reroof. Section 5-42(C) says each permit type may carry its own forms and checklists, and no roofing checklist is published on the Building Department's page. MONEY AND TIME. The fee schedule in section 5-44 has no roofing line (see the permit threshold for the likely line). Starting before the permit issues adds 50 percent to the fee under section 5-42(E). Under section 5-44(F), a permit other than a remodel or a new principal structure expires 180 days from issue; after that it must be renewed at half the original fee before work resumes. Pay by card through PayGov, which adds 3 percent, or in person.

THE TOWN ADOPTS THE STATE RULES BY REFERENCE, AND ITS ADOPTION FLOATS. Ordinance 2025-29, passed and adopted by the Town Council on December 29, 2025 and in force from January 1, 2026, re-enacted section 5-40(A). The copy the Town publishes carries the adoption date by hand and no signature block. It incorporates the state Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission's rules in Title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code and says they "shall include later amendments to those articles as the same are published in the Indiana Register or the Indiana Administrative Code with effective dates as fixed therein". Under Article 14 it lists the "Indiana Residential Code 2018 Edition with 2020 Indiana Amendments". The Building Department's own page lists the residential code it adheres to as the "2018 International Residential Code (1st printing), with 2020 Indiana Amendments". Both match the state rule, 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code. The ordinance's Article 14 item still carries two older citations in parentheses, 675 IAC 14-4.3 and the 2000 IRC, carried over from the 2020 codification's 2001-edition entry. They are printed as the Town printed them, and the edition named in the text is the 2018 IRC with 2020 Indiana amendments. State law reads a floating reference this way too: under IC 22-13-2-3(b), a reference to the commission's rules by citation to the Indiana Administrative Code "shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date that the reference is written and any later amendments to that provision". THE TOWN CODE ON THE WEBSITE IS OUT OF DATE. The Town Code PDF the site links is the 2020 S-1 supplement, "Local legislation current through Ordinance 2020-05, passed 2-24-2020". Its Article III still names the "Indiana Residential Code 2001 Edition". Ordinance 2025-29 replaced that article, so read the ordinance, which the Building Department links separately, not the codified PDF, for anything on permits, fees or the adopted codes. WHAT THE TOWN ADDS. Re-enacted section 5-42(C) states that "Permit applications, plan review, inspections, and occupancy approvals within this jurisdiction shall include specific local requirements in addition to the minimum standards of State of Indiana code", that each permit type may carry its own forms, checklists, design standards and inspection conditions, and, at (D), that "Compliance with state code alone is not sufficient for approval." The ordinance itself contains no roof-covering requirement. The Building Department's page publishes no roofing checklist or design standard as read on September 11, 2026, so ask the department for any roofing checklist before bidding. At state level, IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules." This record reports both statements and does not decide how they interact.

Required — REQUIRED BY THE STATE, NOT BY CHESTERTON, AND UNCONDITIONAL ON A SHINGLE ROOF. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge in Class 2 Construction, reproduces the adopted section in full: "R905.2.8.5 Drip edge. A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs. Adjacent segments of drip edge shall be overlapped not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall extend not less than ¼ inch (6.4 mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up back onto the roof deck not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the rood deck at not more than 12 inches (305 mm) o.c. with fasteners as specified in Section R905.2.5 Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge along rake edges." The word "rood" is a typing error in the published guidance, quoted as printed; it means the roof deck. 675 IAC 14-4.4-86 reads "Delete the word "approved" from the text of SECTION R905.2.8 without substitution." It does not touch R905.2.8.5. Neither Chapter 5 of the Town Code nor Ordinance 2025-29 says anything about drip edge. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED, BECAUSE THE STATE TABLE NAMES PORTER COUNTY. Indiana replaces the model climatic table with its own county-by-county Table R301.2(1) at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5. Row 64, Porter, carries "Yes" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". Most of the state's counties read "No" in that column. WHAT THE BARRIER MUST BE, from the adopted section as the Indiana State Building Commissioner reproduces it: "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." It must consist of "not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet" and must "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." On roofs of 8:12 slope and steeper it must also run not less than 36 inches along the slope from the eave edge. The section's one exception is "Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." The same guidance explains the county split: "there are specific counties in which it is always required (per Table R301.2(1)), and specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it". Chesterton is in the first group, so the barrier does not depend on the shingle wrapper here. A crew working further south is in the second group and must read it. The Town adds nothing on this point. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NOT REQUIRED. Neither Ordinance 2025-29 nor Chapter 5 of the Town's 2020 codification sets any impact rating for a roof covering, and no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 requirement appears anywhere in the Town Code or in the ordinance. The state rule the Town adopts, 675 IAC 14-4.4, amends the roof-covering chapter only by the four deletions described in this record's layer field, and none of them concerns impact. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a town from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the commission's rules. Impact-resistant shingles are an insurance and warranty choice in Chesterton, not a code requirement; an insurer's premium discount is a private contract term.

A JOB COST OVER $1,000 TRIGGERS THE PERMIT, AND THAT IS ENACTED TEXT, NOT GUIDANCE. Ordinance 2025-29 replaced Article III of Chapter 5 of the Town Code in its entirety, and its section 5-42(A) reads: "A permit shall be obtained before beginning excavation, construction, alteration or repair of any building or structure, involving any change of use, additional lot coverage, or the cost of which exceeds $1,000." A replacement roof on a house will almost always cost more than that, so treat a reroof as permit work. No section of the ordinance names roofing, and none exempts it. WHICH FEE LINE. The schedule in section 5-44 has no roofing line. The line whose wording fits a replacement is "Residential repair/replace", at two cents per dollar of job cost, not to exceed $1,000, with a $50 minimum. "Residential remodel" is a separate line priced by the square foot. The ordinance does not say which one the Town applies to a reroof, so confirm it when you file. STARTING WITHOUT A PERMIT COSTS HALF AGAIN. Under section 5-42(E), work begun before a permit issues draws a Stop Work Order and "the fee for the permit will be increased by fifty-percent (50%), which must be paid before any permit may be issued." That surcharge is on top of any fine. THE STORM EXCEPTION. Section 5-42(F) provides: "The additional fee shall not apply to emergency work performed to prevent imminent threat to humans or structures, provided that a permit is applied for within three (3) business days after the emergency work." So an emergency tarp or dry-in after a storm escapes the surcharge only if the permit application follows within three business days. A FALSE FRIEND IN THE FLOOD CHAPTER. The flood damage prevention chapter of the Town's 2020 codification says that "DEVELOPMENT does not include activities such as the maintenance of existing structures and facilities such as painting, re-roofing; resurfacing roads". That definition takes a reroof out of floodplain development review only. It is not an exemption from the building permit.

115 mph, FROM THE STATE'S COUNTY TABLE, NOT A TOWN ENACTMENT. Indiana's Table R301.2(1), at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, gives the Porter County row as wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow load 30 psf, foundation depth 36 inches, winter design temperature 1 degree Fahrenheit, decay slight to moderate, termite moderate to heavy, weathering severe, ice shield underlayment required Yes, air freezing index 2000 and mean annual temperature 49.6 degrees. EXPOSURE IS A JOB QUESTION. The table's own footnote reads "Wind exposure shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with SECTION R301.2.1.4." Indiana also amends that section, at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4, on how exposure is judged where neighbouring structures are not built yet. Chesterton publishes no design criteria of its own. Chapter 5 and Ordinance 2025-29 contain no wind speed, snow load or climatic figure.

NO TOWN LAYER RULE EXISTS, AND THE STATE RULE LEAVES THE MODEL REROOFING SECTION UNTOUCHED. Both Chesterton instruments were read in full: Chapter 5 of the Town's 2020 codification, all eight articles, and Ordinance 2025-29, which replaced Article III. Neither contains the words layer, overlay, re-roof or tear-off, and neither has any roof-covering provision. Their only references to roofs are the manufactured-roof tag rules for engineered roof framing and "roof and siding" in the contractor definition. On the state side, 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, makes no amendment to the 2018 International Residential Code's reroofing section. Its only amendments to the roof-covering chapter delete a sentence from the rooftop photovoltaic section and delete single words from the asphalt-shingle attachment, flashing and other-flashing sections. So the base 2018 International Residential Code rule applies here as published. Base-code rule, read at 2018 International Residential Code Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed: a roof recover "shall not be permitted" where "the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second existing layer means a tear-off to the deck. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance "that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules". Count the existing layers against that code with the Building Department on 219-926-2610 before quoting a recover instead of a tear-off.

NO TOWN SHEATHING RULE. Chapter 5 of the Town's 2020 codification and Ordinance 2025-29 were read in full, and neither mentions sheathing or a roof deck. The deck under an asphalt reroof is therefore subject to the 2018 International Residential Code as the state adopts it in 675 IAC 14-4.4. The state rule makes one amendment in the roof sheathing section, and it concerns how panels are identified, not how the deck is built. 675 IAC 14-4.4-82 reads "Delete the words "or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency" from the text of SECTION R803.2.1 without substitution." If rotten or delaminated decking turns up at tear-off, settle the replacement with the Building Department on 219-926-2610 before closing it in.

7.00% in Chesterton, the Indiana state rate, with no county or town add-on. The Indiana Department of Revenue's county tax page lists the taxes Indiana levies at county level, which are innkeeper's, food and beverage and local income tax, and states: "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." So there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice in Chesterton.