City of Columbus, Ohio - Department of Building and Zoning Services

City of Columbus, Ohio

city

111 North Front Street, Columbus, OH 43215

Required

Required

CITY-SPECIFIC -- permit administration is a roofing lever Columbus sets for itself without needing to run the ORC 3781.01(C) notice-and-determination procedure that would apply to a change in residential code CONTENT. Columbus requires a building permit to replace a residential roof and maintains a dedicated combined application for it, the "Roof, Siding, Windows, Doors Application" (form RSWD), covering existing 1-, 2- or 3-family homes as well as 4-or-more-family and commercial structures. Roof, siding, window and door permits for those dwellings are applied and paid for by registered and licensed contractors, and the same RSWD form is used whether the entire roof is being replaced or only part of it (e.g. a porch roof) -- Columbus draws no separate square-footage or percentage line between "repair" and "replacement" for permit purposes. NOTABLE INTRA-OHIO CONTRAST: because this is a local rather than a state lever, practice differs sharply between Ohio's big three cities -- Cincinnati lists roof coverings on 1-, 2- and 3-family detached dwellings with no more than two layers of roofing material among work that does NOT require a permit (see the Cincinnati, OH record), whereas Columbus requires a permit for residential roof replacement. Do not generalize one Ohio city's permit-exemption practice to another.

SET BY STATE RULE. Ohio regulates one-, two-, and three-family dwelling construction through a single statewide code, the Residential Code of Ohio (RCO), adopted by the state Board of Building Standards (BBS) and codified at Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 4101:8. Ohio Revised Code 3781.11 requires the board's rules to, for residential buildings, "provide standards and requirements that are uniform throughout the state" (the same section requires only category-level uniformity for nonresidential buildings, so the statute draws the distinction expressly). ORC 3781.01 permits a local governing authority to adopt only "additional regulations governing residential structures that do not conflict with the state residential building code," and only if the division (C) procedure is followed: the locality must notify the BBS, which then has sixty days to decide whether the regulation conflicts; where it conflicts and is not necessary to protect health or safety, the local regulation becomes unenforceable. Columbus therefore cannot adopt a looser or stricter residential building code of its own; its own Columbus City Code Chapter 4127 (Section 4127.01) simply incorporates the RCO "as adopted, and/or as republished from time to time" by the BBS, "as if set out fully at length herein," and supplements it only on the Electrical and Plumbing parts (Sections 4127.09 and 4127.11) -- there is no Columbus-specific roofing chapter. CURRENT EDITION: the "2019 Residential Code of Ohio," based on the 2018 International Residential Code. A Board of Building Standards coversheet confirms: "At its meeting on December 14, 2018, the Ohio Board of Building Standards adopted the rule changes identified as Amendments Group 97. These rule amendments were adopted with an effective date of July 1, 2019," to "reflect the 2018 edition of the 'International Residential Code' with Ohio amendments." The RCO has since been amended by the BBS in later rule-amendment cycles; EDITION NOTE: Ohio's commercial codes (Ohio Building, Mechanical, Plumbing and Existing Building Codes) have separately moved to the 2021 I-Codes, but the residential code was not rebased -- the RCO remains 2018-IRC-based. Several roofing-contractor guides for Columbus incorrectly describe the residential code as based on the 2021 IRC; the BBS's own residential amendment documents continue to title the code the 2019 RCO.

Not required — SET BY STATE RULE, and a genuine, non-obvious Ohio deviation from most other IRC-based states. Ohio did not carry forward the base IRC's prescriptive drip-edge provision. The entire content of RCO Section 905.2.8.5 as printed in OAC 4101:8-9-01 is: "905.2.8.5 Drip edge. Refer to Sections 903.1 and 905.1." Neither cross-referenced section imposes a drip-edge mandate: Section 903.1 (General) states only that "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," and Section 905.1 (Roof covering application) is a general wind-resistance provision. There is accordingly no numbered Ohio provision requiring a drip edge at eaves and rakes with the usual dimensional and fastening specifications; drip edge is instead governed by the roof-covering manufacturer's approved installation instructions via Section 903.1. Contractors should note this means an omitted drip edge can still be a code violation wherever the shingle manufacturer's instructions call for one. About drip edge

Required — SET BY STATE RULE -- applies identically in Columbus as everywhere else in Ohio. RCO Table 301.2(1) as printed in OAC 4101:8-3-01 pre-fills "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required" as "Yes" for the whole state rather than leaving it to local determination, and its footnote (h) explains why: "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 (OAC 4101:8-9-01) then requires: "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." Ohio adds text beyond the base 2018 IRC: "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: "Detached accessory structures and roof assemblies terminating at a vertical wall over unconditioned floor areas" (the italicized portion is also an Ohio-specific addition). About ice & water barrier

Not required — Columbus's own 2026 Combined Development Related Fee Schedule prices the "Roof, Siding, Windows, and Doors" permit line item as "(1 inspection) $140" -- i.e. the fee the city charges for this permit bundles exactly one inspection, not a separate in-progress or mid-roof inspection plus a final. No Columbus document opened for this record describes a distinct mid-roof dry-in or underlayment inspection for residential reroofing.

Not required — Columbus's own adopting instrument for residential construction is Columbus City Code Chapter 4127, "Construction Standards and Materials -- Residential Code of Ohio Governed Structures." Read in full (6 live sections: 4127.01 Residential Code of Ohio; 4127.03 Reserved; 4127.05 and 4127.07 Repealed; 4127.09 Columbus revision to RCO Part VIII-Electrical; 4127.11 Columbus revision to RCO Part IX-Plumbing) -- no provision addresses impact resistance, UL 2218, or shingle classification of any kind. Section 4127.01 simply incorporates the Residential Code of Ohio "as if set out fully at length herein," and Columbus's only two live supplements to that incorporation touch the Electrical and Plumbing parts, not roofing. Chapter 4191 (Airport Environs) contains a section titled "4191.13 Roof criteria," but that chapter regulates sound attenuation for structures inside airport noise contours (day-night sound level, exterior wall/window/door/roof/ ceiling/floor/ventilation criteria for noise) and has nothing to do with hail or wind-borne-debris impact resistance -- it was checked and rejected as exactly the kind of false positive this class of search produces.

CITY-SPECIFIC. Columbus draws no square-footage or percentage line between a roof repair and a full roof replacement. Its own "Typical Residential Projects" guide lists "Replace roof" among the projects that fall under "Requires a permit, but not plan review," with no size- or percentage-based carve-out anywhere in the document, and roofing work does not appear on the guide's separate list of projects that do not require a permit at all. The combined "Roof, Siding, Windows, Doors Application" (form RSWD) bears this out: it asks whether "the entire roof is being replaced" and, if not, asks for the location on the structure (e.g. a porch roof) -- meaning a partial reroof uses the identical permit application as a full one, with the same registered-contractor requirement. Columbus is therefore materially stricter on this point than Cincinnati, whose own guidance exempts roof coverings of no more than two layers from a permit outright (see the Cincinnati, OH record); Columbus has no comparable exemption.

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Table 301.2(1) "Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria," as printed in OAC 4101:8-3-01, pre-fills the following values for the entire state rather than leaving them for local fill-in: Wind Design Speed 115 mph (ultimate design wind speed); Weathering "severe"; Termite "Moderate to heavy"; Ice Barrier Underlayment Required "Yes." Columbus has not published a substitute figure for any of these cells, and the printed table gives no instruction for local completion of them (unlike ground snow load, below). GROUND SNOW LOAD IS NOT STATEWIDE: 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)" -- i.e. it is a per-location value read off a statewide reference map and then recorded locally, not a fixed statewide constant. No Franklin County / Columbus ground snow load figure has been confirmed from a Columbus or Franklin County primary source, so none is stated here. Seismic Design Category, frost line depth, winter design temperature, flood hazards, air freezing index and mean annual temperature are likewise jurisdiction-filled under the table's footnotes. Wind exposure category is determined site-specifically rather than by state or city rule.

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Section 908 (OAC 4101:8-9-01) sets the reroofing rules. Section 908.3 Roof replacement: "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 covering over an existing one where, among other conditions, "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 then bars a recover where: "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: at most ONE existing layer may be recovered over, so a second layer of shingles is the maximum on the roof; once two or more applications already exist, full tear-off to the deck is mandatory. Recover is also barred outright over slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile, and over any deteriorated or water-soaked existing roof.

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Section 905.2.1 (OAC 4101:8-9-01) states in full: "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks." Ohio adopts this without amendment to the base 2018 IRC language -- note in particular that Ohio does NOT add the "or 1-inch thick nominal wood boards" allowance that some other states' residential codes append to this sentence. Separately, RCO Section 908.3.1.1 bars a roof recover (and therefore forces removal down to the deck) "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," which is the practical trigger for deck replacement on a Columbus reroof.

Columbus spans three counties, and the combined state-and-local sales and use tax rate differs by which one applies. Per the Ohio Department of Taxation (Tax.Ohio.gov) "Sales and Use Tax Rate Map," rates in effect as of October 2025: the Franklin County portion of Columbus (the large majority of the city) is 8.00% -- state 5.75% + Franklin County permissive 1.25% + Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) 1.00%. The Delaware County portion of Columbus is also 8.00%: Delaware County's own table rate is 7.00% (no county-level transit levy), but the Department's note 1 states "Delaware's COTA rate covers the portions of the Cities of Columbus and Westerville located in Delaware County," adding COTA 1.00% on top for those addresses. The Fairfield County portion of Columbus is 7.75%: Fairfield County's own table rate is 6.75%, and note 1 states "Fairfield's COTA rate covers the portions of the Cities of Columbus and Reynoldsburg in Fairfield County," again adding COTA 1.00%. A Columbus address's exact rate therefore depends on which of the three counties it sits in.