City of Elizabethtown Planning and Development Department

City of Elizabethtown, Kentucky

city

200 West Dixie Avenue, Elizabethtown, KY 42701

Required

THE 2015 INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE AS AMENDED BY THE 2018 KENTUCKY RESIDENTIAL CODE, THIRD EDITION (AUGUST 2024), MANDATORY STATEWIDE AND UNIFORM ACROSS EVERY KENTUCKY JURISDICTION, INCLUDING ELIZABETHTOWN. 815 KAR 7:125 Section 2(1) provides: "the 2015 International Residential Code for One (1) and Two (2) Family Dwellings (IRC) shall be the mandatory state residential building code for all single-family dwellings, two (2) family dwellings, and townhouses constructed in Kentucky, except that the Kentucky amendments in the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code shall supersede any conflicting provision in the 2015 IRC." The code's own R101.3 adds: "Local governments shall not adopt or enforce any other building code for detached single family dwellings, two-family dwellings and townhouses" - so no Elizabethtown- specific technical amendment exists or could lawfully exist. ONE STATEWIDE CARVE-OUT APPLIES ON SOME HARDIN COUNTY PROPERTIES OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS: KRS 198B.010(4) excludes from the definition of "building" - and therefore from the code - "a farm dwelling or other farm buildings and structures incident to the operation and maintenance of the farm if the farm structures are located outside the boundary of a municipality" and are not retail, not a workplace for ten or more, and not timber storage; KRC R101.2 Exception 3 repeats it. This record does not decide whether any particular property qualifies.

Required — REQUIRED STATEWIDE BY KENTUCKY'S OWN ENACTED TEXT, WITH AN ALTERNATE-METHODS ALLOWANCE. The Kentucky Residential Code's Section R905.2.8.5, Drip edge, reads: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and gables of shingle roofs. Adjacent pieces of drip edge shall be overlapped a minimum of 2 inches. Drip edges shall extend a minimum of 0.25 inch below the roof sheathing and extend up the roof deck a minimum of 2 inches. Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the roof deck at a maximum of 12 inches on center... Alternate methods to the standard metal drip edge may include site formed coil stock that creates a drip line as intended by the code. Wood, composite, and manufactured trim installed on the fascia shall create a drip line to prevent water from running back under the shingles, which will meet the requirements of the drip edge." Because Kentucky bars a local government from adopting or enforcing any other building code for a one- or two-family dwelling (KRC R101.3), this applies identically inside Elizabethtown; no city-specific amendment on the point was found or would be lawful. About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY KENTUCKY'S STATEWIDE RESIDENTIAL CODE, AND NO OTHER CODE MAY LAWFULLY IMPOSE ONE HERE. A full counted read of both the Kentucky Residential Code amendment packet and the Kentucky Building Code amendment packet returns zero occurrences of "UL 2218," "Class 4," "Class IV," "impact," and "hail." Because KRC R102.2 provides that "a local ordinance shall not establish any additional or contradictory building construction standard than those adopted in this code," and KRC R101.3 bars a local government from adopting or enforcing any other building code for a one- or two-family dwelling, this negative reaches Elizabethtown, not merely the state layer. An insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle is not a code mandate.

NO ROOFING-SPECIFIC DOLLAR THRESHOLD IS PUBLISHED BY THE CITY, AND KENTUCKY STATE LAW POINTS IN TWO DIRECTIONS AT ONCE. The City's own Plan Review and Permit Fees schedule prices a Construction Permit at "No Fee" for projects "Up to $9,999" in construction cost, with the fee schedule beginning above that figure - this is a fee-waiver tier inside the schedule, and no provision was found stating that a project under $9,999 is exempt from the PERMIT requirement itself, only from the fee. The City's roofing work falls under its general "Construction (Commercial and Residential)" permit category; no dedicated roofing line, and no dollar or square-footage carve-out for roofing specifically, was found in the fee schedule or the online permit portal. Separately, Kentucky's own statutes pull in opposite directions on whether a roof replacement is inside a permit requirement at all: KRS 198B.010(21) defines "ordinary repair" to include, by name, "the replacement or installation of nonstructural components of the building such as roofing... that does not alter the structural integrity," and KRS 198B.010(11) then excludes "ordinary repair" from the definition of "construction" - the term KRS 198B.060(8) attaches the permit requirement to. Against that, the Kentucky Residential Code's own scope at R101.2 reaches "alteration... replacement, repair," and neither the City's fee schedule nor the KRC's own R105.2 exempt list names roofing as excused. This record states both tests without deciding which one governs a particular reroof; call the Planning and Development Department at 270-982-3266 to confirm treatment of a job at the margin.

BASIC ULTIMATE WIND SPEED 115 MPH FOR ALL KENTUCKY COUNTIES, INCLUDING HARDIN COUNTY, WITH A 15 PSF GROUND SNOW LOAD. Kentucky replaces the model climatic table with its own "TABLE R301.2 (1) - DESIGN SNOW, CLIMATIC AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN CRITERIA FOR KENTUCKY COUNTIES." Its WIND DESIGN row reads: "Basic ultimate wind speed, V-ult shall be 115 mph (51.4 m/s) for all Kentucky counties. Topographic effects shall be investigated." Hardin County does not appear on the table's list of counties assigned the higher 20 psf ground snow load (Boone, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Floyd, Gallatin, Grant, Greenup, Henry, Kenton, Knott, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Martin, Mason, Trimble), so it carries the table's default 15 psf figure. The same table lists WEATHERING as "SEVERE for all Kentucky counties," TERMITE PROTECTION as "MODERATE TO HEAVY for all Kentucky counties," and sends seismic design to Table R301.2.2.1. Footnote d warns that Section 301.2.1.3 converts this ultimate figure to a nominal design wind speed for methods that use one - do not apply 115 mph directly to a nominal-basis calculation. Kentucky bars a local government from adopting a different residential code, so this table applies identically inside Elizabethtown.

THIS RECORD DOES NOT STATE A LAYER CLASSIFICATION. Kentucky's statewide residential code amendment packet was read in full and amends nothing at an R908 section number or any other reroofing/recover provision - "R908" returns zero occurrences across the packet's text, and IRC Chapter 8 does not appear in the code's table of contents at all. No Elizabethtown-specific instrument on the point exists, or could lawfully exist, since Kentucky bars a local government from adopting or enforcing any other building code for a one- or two-family dwelling (KRC R101.3). Rather than borrow a layer count from the base 2015 IRC at its own R908.3.1.1 numbering, which nobody on this project has separately opened and captured for this record, this field leaves the question open and points to the unamended base code's roof-assemblies chapter as the place the answer would come from.

NO LOCAL RULE, AND THE STATEWIDE CODE MAKES NO AMENDMENT TO ROOF SHEATHING. Kentucky's residential code is the 2015 International Residential Code as amended by the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition (August 2024), mandatory statewide under 815 KAR 7:125 section 2(1), and local governments including Elizabethtown are barred from adopting a different building code for one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses (KRC R101.3, R102.2). The state's own amendment packet was read in full: IRC Chapter 8 (Roof-Ceiling Construction) does not appear anywhere in the Kentucky code's table of contents, and anchored counts for "R802" and "R803" both return zero across the amendment text. The packet's only "Chapter 8" hit is a cross-reference to "815 KAR Chapter 8" (HVAC contractor licensing), not IRC Chapter 8. So the base 2015 International Residential Code's roof-sheathing provisions apply in Elizabethtown unmodified - this record points to that chapter rather than restating span or fastening figures nobody on this project has read against an Elizabethtown-specific instrument, because none exists to read.

6.00% STATEWIDE, WITH NO LOCAL COMPONENT ANYWHERE IN KENTUCKY, INCLUDING ELIZABETHTOWN AND HARDIN COUNTY. KRS 139.200 provides: "A tax is hereby imposed upon all retailers at the rate of six percent (6%) of the gross receipts." Kentucky's Department of Revenue states plainly: "There are no local sales and use taxes in Kentucky," and no provision of KRS Chapter 139 authorizes a county, city or district sales tax. THE CONTRACTOR, NOT THE HOMEOWNER, OWES THE TAX ON MATERIALS. 103 KAR 26:070 Section 2(1) provides that "all sales to contractors, subcontractors, builders, or owners of building materials, fixtures, and supplies which are to be incorporated or fabricated into any structure or improvement to real estate by the process of erecting, remodeling, replacing, or repairing the structure or improvement are subject to the sales or use tax at the time of sale to the contractor" - roofing is named as trade item 8 and material item (k) in that same regulation's own enumerations. A roofing contractor working in Elizabethtown pays the 6% tax when buying materials and does not separately charge sales tax to the homeowner on the finished job, which is realty rather than a retail sale.