City of Evanston Building and Inspection Services Division

City of Evanston, Illinois

city

909 Davis Street, 1st Floor, Evanston, IL 60201

Required

Required

THE 2021 INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE, ADOPTED BY NAMED, DATED HOME RULE ORDINANCE WITH A WRITTEN, SECTION-NUMBERED AMENDMENT LIST. City Code Title 4, Chapter 9, Section 4-9-1: "Pursuant to the authority granted by 65 ILCS 5/1-2-4, and pursuant to its home rule powers, the City of Evanston hereby adopts by reference the 2021 International Residential Code with the additions, deletions, exceptions, and other amendments set forth in this Chapter," governing "all detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses not more than three (3) stories above grade plane in height." The amendment list (Ordinance 29-O-22, Exhibit G) was read in full: it revises administrative sections (permit issuance, expiration, submittal documents), deletes R105.2 Work exempt from permit and R327 Swimming Pools in favor of Appendix G, requires an automatic residential fire sprinkler system for new one- and two-family dwellings (R313.2), amends garage, demolition, foundation and wall-sheathing provisions, retains IRC Chapter 11 Energy Efficiency for reference only in favor of the Illinois Energy Conservation Code (71 Ill. Adm. Code 600), adds electric-vehicle charging infrastructure requirements, and inserts the City's own Table R301.2 climatic and geographic design criteria. IT DOES NOT TOUCH THE IRC'S ROOF-ASSEMBLIES SECTIONS. Every field in this record describing roof covering, layering, or sheathing rests on that absence and points to the unamended base code rather than repeating text nobody on this project has read against Evanston's own numbering. The City's own Building Permits page confirms the current adopted-code list, including a mandatory statewide Illinois Stretch Energy Code taking effect October 1, 2025 for permit applications submitted after that date -- an energy-code transition unrelated to roof-covering requirements and unrelated to the City's separate, undated roofing inspection-report practice described in this record's mid-roof-inspection field.

Required — DEFAULT TRUE, AS A POINTER TO THE UNAMENDED BASE 2021 IRC, NOT A QUOTED FIGURE. Ordinance 29-O-22, Exhibit G was read in full and amends nothing in the IRC's roof-covering sections; its only Table R301.2-adjacent change is the ice-barrier line described in this record's ice-and-water-shield field. This record does not repeat the base code's own drip-edge text, since nobody on this project has opened it against Evanston's specific instrument; it points to the unamended 2021 IRC roof-assemblies chapter as the applicable provision. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED BY EVANSTON'S OWN INSERTED CLIMATIC TABLE, IN PLAIN WORDS. Ordinance 29-O-22, Exhibit G amends Table R301.2 Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria and inserts the City's own row values, including "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required: Yes" printed directly in the table alongside a ground snow load of 30 psf and a wind speed of 117 mph. That is a first-party, jurisdiction-specific answer inserted into the adopted code itself, not an inference from a geographic default. About ice & water barrier

Required — EVANSTON SUBSTITUTES A REQUIRED THIRD-PARTY REPORT FOR AN ON-SITE CITY ROOF INSPECTION, AND A READER SHOULD NOT EXPECT A CITY INSPECTOR TO VISIT THE JOB FOR ROOFING THE WAY ONE DOES FOR OTHER PERMIT TYPES. The City's own Building Permits page lists, under its "Inspection Types" section, a distinct entry for Roofing that reads: "Provide an inspection report from an independent inspector or inspection agency affirming that the roof has been installed according to the manufacturer's specifications and the building codes adopted by the City of Evanston," to be emailed to the Building and Inspection Services Division. That is the whole of the City's roofing inspection regime as published; no separate on-site rough-in or final City inspection for roofing is listed on that page the way one is for fences, flatwork, or concrete pours.

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE CITY'S OWN AMENDMENT ORDINANCE OR BY ANY ILLINOIS STATE INSTRUMENT. Ordinance 29-O-22, Exhibit G was read in full, section by section, from its administrative provisions through its energy and electric-vehicle sections, and it contains no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV, hail or impact-resistance provision anywhere in its text. Illinois itself has adopted no statewide residential building code reaching an existing house, so there is no state instrument to check either. An insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle is not a code mandate.

NO DOLLAR OR SQUARE-FOOTAGE THRESHOLD IS PUBLISHED, AND THE CITY DELETED THE BASE CODE'S OWN EXEMPTION LIST RATHER THAN PUBLISHING A REPLACEMENT ONE. Ordinance 29-O-22, Exhibit G amends R105.2 Work exempt from permit to read: "This section is deleted in its entirety. Contact the City's Building and Inspection Services Division for information regarding work exempt from permits." So none of the base 2021 IRC's own minor-work exemptions survives in Evanston, and no replacement threshold is written into the ordinance itself. The City's own Building Permits page lists "Roofing" among its Express Permit Types (simpler projects, generally issued within 24 to 48 hours, as against 4 to 6 weeks for a full Building Permit) rather than as an exempt category, which confirms a permit is required for roofing work at any scale reviewed here, just on a faster track. A reader should contact Building and Inspection Services directly for treatment of a job at the margin.

ESTABLISHED FROM EVANSTON'S OWN INSERTED CLIMATIC TABLE. Ordinance 29-O-22, Exhibit G amends Table R301.2 Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria and inserts, in the City's own words: Wind Speed 117 mph, Topographic Effects No, Special Wind Region Not Applicable, Windborne Debris Zone Not Applicable, Seismic Design Category A, Ground Snow Load 30 psf, Subject to Damage From Weathering Severe, Frost Line Depth 42 inches, and Termite Slight to Moderate. These are first-party, jurisdiction-specific figures printed directly in the adopted code amendment, not a regional estimate.

TWO LAYERS MAXIMUM, ON THE UNAMENDED BASE 2021 INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE, WHICH EVANSTON HAS ADOPTED BY NAME AND HAS NOT AMENDED ON THIS POINT. City Code Title 4, Chapter 9 (Ordinance 29-O-22, Exhibit G) adopts the 2021 IRC and lists its amendments section by section; that list was read in full and names no R908 section and no reroofing or recover provision anywhere. Illinois supplies no state amendment instrument to check, since it has adopted no statewide residential code at all. So the base 2021 IRC's own reroofing rule governs: Section R908.3.1.1, "Roof recover not allowed," bars a recover, among other conditions, "[w]here the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering" -- meaning one existing layer may be recovered, and a second existing layer forces a full tear-off before a new covering can go on.

NO LOCAL RULE ON ROOF SHEATHING, AND THE CITY'S OWN AMENDMENT ORDINANCE MAKES NO CHANGE TO IT. Evanston adopts the 2021 International Residential Code by City Code Title 4, Chapter 9 (Ordinance 29-O-22, Exhibit G). That ordinance's amendment list was read in full, section by section, and it touches R502.1 (prefabricated wood I-joists) and R602.3 (exterior wall sheathing) but names no R803 section and no roof-sheathing provision anywhere in its text. So the base 2021 International Residential Code's roof sheathing requirements apply in Evanston unmodified. This record points to that chapter rather than restating figures nobody on this project has read against Evanston's own instrument.

THE COMBINED STATE AND LOCAL RATE ON GENERAL MERCHANDISE AT AN EVANSTON LOCATION IS 10.5%, EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1, 2026 (10.25% from January 1, 2020 through July 31, 2026), per the Illinois Department of Revenue's own published municipal sales tax rate file. THAT FIGURE DOES NOT, BY ITSELF, ANSWER WHAT A ROOFER OWES ON AN EVANSTON JOB. Under 86 Ill. Adm. Code 130.1940(c), a construction contractor "does not incur Retailers' Occupation Tax liability as to receipts from labor furnished and tangible personal property ... incorporated into a structure," including roofing materials named by name in that subsection's list; instead "the construction contractor incurs Use Tax on the cost price of the tangible personal property that is incorporated into real estate." "Construct" is defined at 130.1940(a)(3) to include repair, so a repair and a full replacement are taxed identically -- there is no separate repair rate. The rate that actually applies is the one where the roofer buys the materials or, if self-assessing, the rate at the contractor's own place of business (86 Ill. Adm. Code 130.2075) -- NOT necessarily the 10.5% rate at the Evanston job site, if the supplier or the contractor is located elsewhere. The Illinois Department of Revenue's MyTax Illinois Tax Rate Finder (a JavaScript lookup tool) is the State's own authoritative current-rate source for any specific address.