City of Des Moines, Iowa - Development Services Department, Permit and Development Center

City of Des Moines, Iowa

city

602 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines, IA 50309

Not required

Required

Des Moines is a no-permit-for-reroofing jurisdiction, which inverts the usual workflow. The City of Des Moines Permit & Development Center handout "Residential Asphalt Shingle Requirements" governs how the work must be done (deck, underlayment, recover limits) even though the work itself is unpermitted; compliance is substantive rather than procedural for a straight re-roof. A building permit becomes necessary the moment sheathing or rafters are repaired or replaced. Applicants should therefore treat deck condition, not roof area, as the permit trigger.

CITY-SET, NOT STATE-GOVERNED, AND CURRENTLY 2024-EDITION, NOT 2021. Des Moines adopts its construction codes by its own ordinance, at Des Moines Municipal Code Chapter 26 (Buildings and Building Regulations), Article III (Building Code). Ordinance No. 16,317 originally amended Chapter 26 to adopt the 2021 editions of the International Building Code, the International Residential Code and the International Existing Building Code. That 2021 adoption has since been superseded: the city's Permit and Development Center "Construction Codes" page states, effective January 1, 2026, "the 2024 International Building Code, 2024 International Residential Code, 2024 International Existing Building Code, and 2024 International Fire Code are adopted by the City of Des Moines," and the Municipal Code as currently codified (Sec. 26-300, Supp. No. 37, codified through Ordinance No. 16,558 adopted May 18, 2026) now reads "International Building Code, 2024 edition," "International Residential Code, 2024 edition" and "International Existing Building Code, 2024 edition," reflecting further amendment by Ordinance Nos. 16,412 and 16,520 after 16,317. The city's residential asphalt-shingle handout has not been reprinted to match: it still states that residential roof-covering installations for one- and two-family dwellings must comply with Chapter 9 of "the 2021 edition of the IRC." Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies) section numbers between the 2021 and 2024 IRC editions were not independently confirmed to match, so provisions in this record sourced from that handout or from the 2021-edition ICC section citations should be treated as reflecting the 2021 text pending re-verification against the 2024 edition. Iowa Code § 103A.10(2)(d) is what leaves this to the city: the State Building Code applies as a default only "in each city with a population of more than fifteen thousand that has not adopted a local building code that is substantially in accord with standards developed by a nationally recognized building code organization" -- Des Moines has adopted one, so the state default does not displace it.

Required — Required under Des Moines's adopted residential code. Des Moines Municipal Code Sec. 26-300, as currently codified through Ordinance No. 16,558 (Supp. No. 37), adopts the International Residential Code, 2024 edition -- the city's prior adoption, by Ordinance No. 16,317, was the 2021 edition, superseded effective January 1, 2026. The city's local International Residential Code amendments, Municipal Code Sec. 26-310 through Sec. 26-310.20, do not address Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies), so the base IRC drip-edge provision applies unmodified under whichever edition is in force. A drip-edge requirement for shingle roofs was previously confirmed against the 2021-edition text at Section R905.2.8.5 of that edition. Because the city's adopted edition has since changed to the 2024 IRC, that section-number citation is specific to the superseded 2021 text: the 2024-edition International Residential Code's current section numbering is not confirmed in this record, so Section R905.2.8.5 should be read as a 2021-edition citation only and not relied on as the current section number. About drip edge

Required — Required both through the city's adopted code and through the city's own published guidance. The Table R301.2(1) climatic and geographic design criteria set out in Des Moines Municipal Code Sec. 26-300(g), as currently codified, list "Ice Shield Underlayment Required" as "Yes" for the city. The City of Des Moines Permit & Development Center handout "Residential Asphalt Shingle Requirements" separately spells out the ice-barrier specification for asphalt shingle roofs: an ice barrier of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet used in place of normal underlayment, extending from the lowest roof edges to a point not less than 24 inches inside the exterior wall line, with an additional 36-inch extension measured along the slope on roofs of 8:12 pitch or greater; detached accessory structures without conditioned floor area are excepted. The handout's edition label predates the city's 2024 code update (see adopted_code), so the precise IRC section number for this provision was not re-confirmed against the 2024 edition, but the underlying requirement is independently corroborated by the current Table R301.2(1) codification. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No mid-roof, in-progress, underlayment or ice-barrier inspection is required for an ordinary residential re-roof in Des Moines, for the structural reason that no building permit is required for that work in the first place: the City of Des Moines Permit & Development Center handout "Residential Asphalt Shingle Requirements" states that reroofing does not require a building permit. With no permit there is no inspection sequence to satisfy. The inspection obligation attaches only where the work crosses into permitted territory -- that is, where sheathing or rafters are repaired or replaced, which does require a building permit and therefore brings the job into the city's normal inspection process. This makes Des Moines markedly more permissive than the Minnesota metros in this directory, where every re-roof is permitted and at least a final inspection is required.

Not required — Des Moines Municipal Code Sec. 26-300, including the Table R301.2(1) climatic and geographic design criteria and the Sec. 26-310 series of local International Residential Code amendments, contains no UL 2218 or Class 4 impact-resistance provision for roof coverings. The city's "Residential Asphalt Shingle Requirements" handout likewise sets out asphalt shingle application requirements (slope, deck, underlayment, fastening, flashing) without any impact rating.

CITY-SPECIFIC, and the controlling fact for Des Moines roofing work: an ordinary re-roof needs no building permit at all, but structural work beneath the covering does. The City of Des Moines Permit & Development Center handout "Residential Asphalt Shingle Requirements" states that reroofing does not require a building permit, though if sheathing or rafters are repaired or replaced a building permit is required. There is no square-footage, bundle-count or dollar threshold in Des Moines -- the trigger is structural: touching the roof deck sheathing or the roof framing (rafters/trusses) converts otherwise-exempt re-roofing work into permitted work. Practical consequence for estimating: a tear-off that uncovers deteriorated decking changes the job's permit status mid-project.

Ground snow load 33 psf, wind speed 115 mph, topographic effects none, special wind region no, wind-borne debris zone no, seismic design category A, weathering severe, frost line depth 42", termite moderate to heavy, decay slight to moderate, winter design temp 0°F, ice shield underlayment required yes, flood hazard identification March 1984, air freezing index 1833, mean annual temperature 48.6°F (Table R301.2(1), Des Moines Municipal Code Sec. 26-300(g), as currently codified through Ordinance No. 16,558, adopted May 18, 2026 (Supp. No. 37)).

Two total applications of roof covering is the cap; a single recover (overlay) over one existing layer is allowed, subject to condition limits. The City of Des Moines Permit & Development Center handout "Residential Asphalt Shingle Requirements" prohibits a roof recover in three cases: 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; where the existing roof covering is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; and where the existing roof has two (2) or more applications of any type of roof covering. The third condition is the operative layer cap -- once two applications of roof covering are present, complete tear-off is required and no further recover is permitted.

The City of Des Moines Permit & Development Center handout "Residential Asphalt Shingle Requirements" states that asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed roof decks, and defines solidly sheathed decks as those of wood deck boards, minimum 3/8 inch plywood, or minimum 7/16 inch OSB. The same handout requires underlayment conforming to ASTM D226, D1970, D4869 or D6757. Note the permitting interaction unique to Des Moines: repairing or replacing sheathing is precisely what triggers a building permit here (see repair_permit_threshold), so the deck condition determines whether the job is permitted at all.

7.000% combined in Des Moines: the 6% Iowa state sales and use tax plus a 1% local option sales tax (LOST). The Iowa Department of Revenue's own published Local Option Sales Tax jurisdiction table (workbook "Status of All Juris[dictions]," effective July 1, 2026, published/updated by the Department June 18, 2026) lists Des Moines as carrying LOST in both of the two counties its corporate limits sit in: the Polk County portion, where the 1% LOST took effect July 1, 2019, and the smaller Warren County portion, where the 1% LOST took effect July 1, 2016. Both portions show a combined 7% rate with no sunset date recorded, so 7.000% applies citywide. This is the general retail rate applicable to a roofing contractor's material purchases in Des Moines; Iowa imposes no additional metro-area or transit sales tax layer of the kind found in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. HOW IOWA TAXES A ROOF IS UNUSUAL, AND IT CUTS BOTH WAYS. Iowa Code section 423.2(6) makes a list of enumerated services taxable at the state rate, and paragraph (l) of that list reads, in its entirety, "Roof, shingle, and glass repair." Against that, section 423.3(37) exempts "the sales price of services on or connected with new construction, reconstruction, alteration, expansion, remodeling." The materials side flips with the labour side. Under section 423.2(1)(b)(1), materials sold to a contractor "for the erection of buildings and other structures or for the reconstruction, alteration, expansion, or remodeling of buildings and other structures are retail sales of tangible personal property," on which the contractor pays the tax as consumer, while materials sold "for use in repairs to or for installation in existing buildings and other structures are purchases for resale." So a job characterised as a repair carries taxable labour and resale-purchased materials, and a job characterised as reconstruction or remodeling carries exempt labour and taxed materials. Which branch a particular tear-off and replacement falls into is a fact-specific question the statute does not answer, and it changes who owes the tax rather than only how much, so settle it with an accountant rather than assume it.