Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Township of Fulton, PA?

Roofing questions: Township of Fulton, PA

When does a roof repair need a permit in Township of Fulton, PA?

Fulton Township's pages read name no roofing line and no residential no-permit list for a reroof. The Township's Building/Zoning Permit Application lists project types that include "Renovation" and "Addition" and has no roofing box or roofing line, and its fee schedule lists no roofing fee and says under "Zoning Fees" "If a project is started without the required permit, an additional charge of $150.00 will be added." Section 701.1 of the Township's Zoning Ordinance, in its permits article, says "No zoning permit shall be required for repairs or maintenance of any structure or land, provided such repairs do not change the use or the exterior dimensions of the structure, or otherwise violate the provisions of this Ordinance," and Section 207.10, which sits in the floodplain zone article, says "within the (F) Floodplain Zone, zoning permits shall be required for all proposed development, construction, reconstruction, placement, replacement, expansion, renovation, extension, repair, or other improvement of uses or structures, regardless of value" and "Building permits shall not be required for normal maintenance." Both sections are zoning provisions and neither names roofing. Under state law, Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6) list "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" and "Repairs to residential buildings" among work the Act does not apply to, "except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503," and 34 Pa. Code 403.62(c) says "A permit is not required for the exceptions listed in § 403.1(b) (relating to scope) and the following, if the work does not violate a law or ordinance." State law sets no square-footage or percentage threshold for roof work; any threshold is set locally. The Uniform Construction Code "does not apply to" "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress, except as required by ordinances in effect under sections 303(b)(1) or 503 of the act" or to "Repairs to residential buildings, except as required by ordinances in effect under sections 303(b)(1) and 503 of the act" (34 Pa. Code 403.1(b)(8) and (9)), and "A permit is not required for the exceptions listed in § 403.1(b) (relating to scope) and the following, if the work does not violate a law or ordinance" (34 Pa. Code 403.62(c)). For houses the regulation adds: "An ordinary repair does not require a permit." Its list of work that is not an ordinary repair names cutting away a load-bearing wall, "The removal or cutting of any structural beam or load-bearing support," changes to a required means of egress, and new or relocated piping, wiring or mechanical work (34 Pa. Code 403.62(d)); roofing is not named. A municipality may require more: under Act 45 section 503(c) it "may enact ordinances pursuant to this section which adopt additional code requirements for alterations or repairs to residential buildings," after a public hearing and after filing the proposed ordinance with the Department of Labor and Industry. These rules concern a "Residential building," which the regulation defines as "Detached one-family and two-family dwellings and townhouses which are not more than three stories above grade plane in height with a separate means of egress and their accessory structures" (34 Pa. Code 401.1). Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Fulton Township's office at 777 Nottingham Road, Peach Bottom (717-548-3514) lists on its Zoning page a "Building Code Official/ Zoning Officer" together with "Light-Heigel & Assoc. Inc.," and its Applications page posts a "Building/Zoning Permit Application" whose list of what an applicant should include says "Three complete sets of detailed building construction plans must be submitted for review and approval." Its fee schedule lists a "UCC Administrative Fee 10% of Total UCC Fee." The Township's pages and fee schedule set no area or cost threshold for roof work. Read for this record: the Township's Home, Zoning, Applications, Ordinances, Administration and Fast Facts pages; its Building/Zoning Permit Application, fee schedule effective January 6, 2020, and Small Projects application; the file its Ordinances page labels "Fulton Township UC Ordinance"; and its codified Zoning Ordinance, a text search of which for "roof," "re-roof" and "shingle" found no permit clause for roof work. The Township's pages name no residential building permit list and no no-permit list.

Can you roof over an existing roof in Township of Fulton, PA?

Two layers at most where the state code reaches the job. Pennsylvania adopts the 2021 International Residential Code without changing its reroofing section, R908 (34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7); the State's list of changes names no Chapter 9 section). Section R908.3.1.1 says "A roof recover shall not be permitted where any of the following conditions occur," and the third condition is "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." So one existing layer may be covered once, and a roof that already has two layers is torn off to the deck. The same section also bars a recover "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" and "Where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile." The existing-building code the State also adopts, the 2021 International Existing Building Code (34 Pa. Code 403.21(f)), carries the same three conditions in Section 705.2.1.1. These rules bind work the Uniform Construction Code reaches. The Act does not apply to "Repairs to residential buildings" or to alterations that make no structural change, "except as might be required by ordinances" (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6)), so whether R908 binds a particular house reroof turns on that exclusion and on the municipality's own ordinances. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Fulton Township's office at 777 Nottingham Road, Peach Bottom (717-548-3514) lists on its Zoning page a "Building Code Official/ Zoning Officer" together with "Light-Heigel & Assoc. Inc.," and its Applications page posts a "Building/Zoning Permit Application" whose list of what an applicant should include says "Three complete sets of detailed building construction plans must be submitted for review and approval." Its fee schedule lists a "UCC Administrative Fee 10% of Total UCC Fee." The Township's pages say nothing on roof layers, and its Zoning Ordinance changes nothing in the code's reroofing provisions. Section 207.9 of the Township's Zoning Ordinance, in the floodplain zone article, lists "International Building Code (IBC) 2003 or the latest edition thereof" and an International Residential Code provision list of the same kind for flood standards, and no Township page read names the edition of the Uniform Construction Code the Township applies; the text above is the 2021 edition's, the 2003 edition's reroofing text was not read for this record, and this record does not decide which edition the Township applies.

Do roofing contractors need a license or registration in Township of Fulton, PA?

Yes.

What building code does Township of Fulton, PA use?

The 2021 International Residential Code, as adopted by the State in the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code (UCC). 34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7) adopts "The 'International Residential Code of 2021,' except that:" followed by the State's list of exclusions and modifications, effective January 1, 2026 (55 Pa.B. 7701). None of the State's changes touches Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, or Section R803, Roof Sheathing, so those apply as the International Code Council publishes them. Work on existing buildings is also pointed to the State's existing-building code: "The repair, alteration, change of occupancy, addition and relocation of existing buildings must comply with Chapter 34 of the 'International Building Code of 2021' or with the 'International Existing Building Code of 2021'" (34 Pa. Code 403.21(f)). The UCC is the minimum everywhere in the state: "no municipality may propose or enact any ordinance which is less than the minimum requirement of the Uniform Construction Code" (Pennsylvania Construction Code Act, Act 45 of 1999, section 503(b)). The Act also lists work it "shall not apply to", including "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" or to "Repairs to residential buildings," in each case "except as might be required by ordinances" kept in force under section 303(b)(1) or adopted under section 503 (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6); 34 Pa. Code 403.1(b)(8) and (9)). The Act defines a repair as "The reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing building for the purpose of its maintenance." So whether the code's roofing rules reach a given house reroof depends on the municipality's own ordinances. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Fulton Township's office at 777 Nottingham Road, Peach Bottom (717-548-3514) lists on its Zoning page a "Building Code Official/ Zoning Officer" together with "Light-Heigel & Assoc. Inc.," and its Applications page posts a "Building/Zoning Permit Application" whose list of what an applicant should include says "Three complete sets of detailed building construction plans must be submitted for review and approval." Its fee schedule lists a "UCC Administrative Fee 10% of Total UCC Fee." The Township's Ordinances page links a file titled "Fulton Township UC Ordinance," and that file is Ordinance No. 2014-2, which authorizes the Township's participation in an unemployment compensation group trust and names no construction code, building permit or roofing, so the Township's ordinance adopting the Uniform Construction Code was not found published on its site. Section 207.9 of the Township's Zoning Ordinance, in the floodplain zone article, lists "International Building Code (IBC) 2003 or the latest edition thereof" and an International Residential Code provision list of the same kind for flood standards, and no Township page read names the edition of the Uniform Construction Code the Township applies; this record has not read the 2003 edition's text and does not decide which edition the Township applies.