City of Green Bay, Wisconsin - Department of Community & Economic Development, Inspection Division (Building Permits & Inspections)

City of Green Bay, Wisconsin

city

Green Bay, WI

Not required

Required

Green Bay's Inspection Division states that building permits are required for most projects except purely cosmetic work such as painting and flooring, but its own roofing/siding FAQ carves re-roofing out for one- and two-family dwellings outside historic residential areas. Where a roofing permit IS required (three or more dwelling units, or a historic residential area), inspections are requested through the City's online Inspection Request Form or by calling 920-448-3300 during business hours, and a project number is required in order to schedule. Owners and contractors are directed to call 920-448-3300 or email [email protected] to confirm whether a specific address is historic and whether a permit is required.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Green Bay has no authority to adopt or amend a different residential building code. Wisconsin's residential code is not a straight IRC adoption: it is the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code (UDC), Wis. Admin. Code ch. SPS 321, drafted by Wisconsin and promulgated by the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) under Wis. Stat. ch. 101, subch. II. SPS 321.01 (Scope): "The provisions of this chapter shall apply to the design and construction of all one- and 2-family dwellings." The roof-coverings section, SPS 321.28 (Weather Protection for Roofs), was most recently amended by CR 15-041, effective 2016-01-01. Preemption: Wis. Stat. § 101.65(1)(a) lets a municipality "[s]ubject to sub. (1c), exercise jurisdiction over the construction and inspection of new dwellings by passage of ordinances," and § 101.65(1c) provides that a municipality "[m]ay not make or enforce an ordinance under sub. (1) that is applied to a dwelling and that does not conform to this subchapter and the uniform dwelling code adopted by the department under this subchapter." That is a conformity (match/non-match) test, not a minimum floor -- the section contains no "may be more restrictive" carve-out -- so Green Bay applies SPS 321 verbatim for one- and two-family dwellings. Note that SPS 321 governs one- and two-family dwellings only. Roofing on buildings of three or more units, and other commercial work, falls under the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code (Wis. Admin. Code chs. SPS 361-366, adopting the IBC), a different chapter that this record does not cover.

Not required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and a genuine Wisconsin/IRC divergence rather than a research gap. Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 321.28 ("Weather Protection for Roofs"), subsections (1) through (7) read in full, contains no drip-edge-at-eaves-or-rakes requirement anywhere. Wisconsin's UDC is Wisconsin-drafted, not an IRC clone, and it has no counterpart to IRC R905.2.8.5. The only two occurrences of "drip edge" in all of ch. SPS 321 are inapplicable to roof edges: SPS 321.30(8), a chimney-cap detail ("Chimney caps shall have a minimum thickness of 2 inches, shall slope outwards away from the flue, and shall provide a one-inch overhang and drip edge on all sides"), and a deck ledger-board flashing detail in ch. SPS 325 Appendix B. Manufacturer instructions can still require drip edge as a condition of the shingle warranty, and SPS 321.28(3)(a) requires asphalt shingles to be installed per those instructions; but there is no code mandate as such, and Green Bay may not add one for a one- or two-family dwelling (Wis. Stat. § 101.65(1c)).

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, but SCOPE-LIMITED BY ROOF SLOPE -- read the trigger before pricing the job. Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 321.28(4)(a) requires ice dam protection on shingled or shake roofs that extend over a heated area of the dwelling or an attached garage AND that have a slope of 4:12 or less; the protection must be sheet metal or a product labeled as meeting ASTM D1970. Wisconsin's UDC therefore does not impose the IRC's across-the-board cold-climate ice barrier on steeper roofs -- it is a Wisconsin-drafted rule, not an IRC clone. Extent, verbatim, SPS 321.28(4)(b): the ice dam protection "shall extend at least 30 inches up the roof slope from the roof edge and at least 12 inches up the roof slope beyond the inner face of the exterior wall." That is a different measurement convention from the IRC's "24 inches inside the exterior wall line" -- do not substitute IRC ice-barrier language on a Wisconsin job. Green Bay may not impose a different ice-barrier rule on a one- or two-family dwelling (Wis. Stat. § 101.65(1c)). The mandate genuinely exists in Wisconsin code, but it is the 4:12-or-less slope condition described here, not the bare yes-or-no answer, that governs a given roof.

Not required — CITY-SPECIFIC administrative practice (permit administration and inspection are the parts of the field Wis. Stat. § 101.65(1)(a), (1)(c) leaves to municipalities and § 101.65(1c) does not preempt). For an ordinary re-roof of a one- or two-family dwelling in Green Bay outside a historic residential area, the City requires no building permit at all (see repair_permit_threshold and roofing_permit_required), so there is no City permit under which any in-progress deck, underlayment, or mid-roof inspection could be called -- and therefore no mid-roof inspection to schedule. Where a permit IS triggered (a building of three or more units, or a property in a historic residential area), inspections are scheduled through the City's online Inspection Request Form or by calling the Inspection Division at 920-448-3300, and a project number is required to schedule; this record does not state which inspection stages the City calls for on those permitted jobs.

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Green Bay. Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 321.28 ("Weather Protection for Roofs"), the UDC's roof-coverings section, contains no UL 2218 reference, no "Class 4 impact" reference, and no hail- or impact-rating requirement anywhere in subsections (1) through (7); its catch-all, SPS 321.28(5), reads "All roof coverings not otherwise addressed in this section shall be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions or a national standard recognized by the department," which sets no impact class. Green Bay cannot add such a requirement for a one- or two-family dwelling (Wis. Stat. § 101.65(1c)). Impact-resistant shingles remain a voluntary, insurer-driven upgrade in this market rather than a code obligation. (Note that any ASTM E108 / UL 790 "Class A/B/C" designation encountered on a Wisconsin job is a FIRE rating and is not evidence of an impact requirement.)

CITY-SPECIFIC, and unusually permissive. The City of Green Bay's own published FAQ "Do I need a permit for roofing or siding?" answers that a permit is required for roofing and siding "only on a 3 or more unit building or within a historic residential area." So an ordinary re-roof of a one- or two-family dwelling outside a historic district needs no City of Green Bay building permit, at any square footage -- there is no area or bundle-count threshold to cross. The two triggers that DO require a permit are (1) the building having three or more dwelling units (which also moves the technical requirements out of the Uniform Dwelling Code and into the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code), and (2) the property being in a historic residential area. The FAQ directs owners to call the inspection department at 920-448-3300 to verify whether a specific property is historic and whether a building permit is required. NOTE: the absence of a City permit does not waive the substantive code -- SPS 321.28 still applies to the work as a matter of state law, and the state Dwelling Contractor credential requirement (see contractor_registration_required) is a DSPS licensing obligation independent of whether a local permit is pulled.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Wisconsin's UDC uses a prescriptive pounds-per-square-foot system plus a statewide snow-load zone map, NOT the IRC's county-by-county "ultimate design wind speed (mph)" table -- do not translate it into an mph figure. Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 321.02(1)(c) requires dwellings to be designed to withstand "either a horizontal and uplift pressure of 20 pounds per square foot acting over the surface area or the wind loads determined in accordance with ASCE 7-05, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures." Snow: SPS 321.02(1)(b)2. -- "Roofs shall be designed and constructed to support the minimum snow loads listed on the zone map" (Figure 321.02), a statewide zone map rather than a single statewide number, so a Green Bay/Brown County ground snow load must be read off that figure; this record does not state a numeric value for Green Bay. Fastening: SPS 321.02(3)(h) -- "All building components shall be fastened to withstand the dead load, live load, snow load, and wind load," per the Table 321.02-2 fastener schedule, with engineered alternatives allowed.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET -- applies identically in Green Bay as everywhere else in Wisconsin for one- and two-family dwellings. Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 321.28(6) prohibits re-covering (i.e., forces a full tear-off) when any of the following is true: the existing roof covering is water-soaked or has deteriorated to the point that it is not an adequate base for additional roofing; the existing roof covering is wood shake, slate, clay, cement, or asbestos-cement tile; or the existing roof already has two or more applications of roofing. Practical effect: at most one overlay over one existing layer, for a maximum of two total applications of roofing, and only when the existing covering is sound and is not shake, slate, clay, cement, or asbestos-cement tile. Green Bay cannot impose a different layer limit for a one- or two-family dwelling (Wis. Stat. § 101.65(1c)).

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 321.27(9) ("Roof Sheathing, Boards and Planking"): (a) structural sheathing -- "The allowable loads and spans for structural sheathing shall be in accordance with the grade stamp on the panel."; (b)1. where rafter spacing is 24 inches on center or less, "roof boards may be used that have a minimum thickness of 5/8-inch for solid sheathing and 3/4-inch for spaced sheathing."; (b)2. where rafter spacing exceeds 24 inches on center, "roof boards shall be tongue and groove, at least 1.5 inches thick."; (c) roof planks, as an alternative, shall be tongue-and-groove or splined and "at least 2 inches, nominal, in thickness," and "Planks shall terminate over beams unless the joints are end matched," "The planks shall be laid so that no continuous line of joints will occur except at points of support," and "Planks shall be nailed or fastened to each beam." Note that Wisconsin's UDC, unlike the IRC as amended in some states, does not state a blanket "solidly sheathed deck" mandate for asphalt shingles -- spaced sheathing at 3/4-inch is expressly contemplated at (9)(b)1 -- while SPS 321.28(3)(a) separately requires asphalt shingles to be installed per the manufacturer's instructions, which commonly do require a solid deck.

Green Bay's combined sales and use tax rate is 5.5% -- the 5.0% Wisconsin state rate plus the 0.5% Brown County sales and use tax. There is no City of Green Bay municipal sales tax and no special-district add-on: the 0.5% Brown County football stadium tax that formerly applied ended 2016-09-30 and is not part of the current rate. Brown County is one of the counties that has adopted the optional 0.5% county sales and use tax under Wis. Stat. § 77.70.