Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Green Bay, WI?

Roofing questions: Green Bay, WI

Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Green Bay, WI?

No, Green Bay, WI does not require a permit to replace a roof. 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.

Is ice & water shield required in Green Bay, WI?

Yes. 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. SCOPE -- the same Uniform Dwelling Code limits that govern the layer rule govern this one, because Wis. Admin. Code SPS 320.05 exempts work from the code as a whole rather than from any single section. SPS 320.05(1) excludes dwellings whose construction commenced before the code's effective date, and additions or alterations to such dwellings, unless the municipality has adopted chs. SPS 320 to 325 for that purpose -- whether Green Bay has done so is NOT established by this record. That date is June 1, 1980 for chs. SPS 320, 321, 323, 324 and 325 under SPS 320.03. Wis. Stat. 101.615 states December 1, 1978, but SPS 320.03 assigns that date to ch. SPS 322, the energy chapter; for a reroof, which is governed by chs. SPS 320 and 321, June 1, 1980 is the date that governs. SPS 320.05(3) further excludes "repairs or maintenance to dwellings or dwelling units," and SPS 320.07(61) defines "repair" to include "the replacement of existing fixtures, systems or equipment with the equivalent" fixture, system or equipment. On a dwelling built before 1980, confirm with the City of Green Bay Inspection Division that the ice dam rule applies before pricing it in or out.

Is drip edge required in Green Bay, WI?

No. 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)).

Can you roof over an existing roof in Green Bay, WI?

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET -- the rule is the same in Green Bay as everywhere else in Wisconsin, for the one- and two-family dwellings the Uniform Dwelling Code reaches -- which is not all of them; read SCOPE below before applying it to an older house. 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)). SCOPE -- the Uniform Dwelling Code does not reach every dwelling, and the rule above governs only the ones it does reach. Wis. Admin. Code SPS 320.05(1) provides that the code "shall not apply to dwellings and dwelling units, the construction of which was commenced prior to the effective date of this code, or to additions or alterations to such dwellings." SPS 320.03 fixes that effective date for chs. SPS 320, 321, 323, 324 and 325 at June 1, 1980. The enabling statute carries its own date: Wis. Stat. 101.615 applies the subchapter to "a dwelling the initial construction of which was commenced on or after December 1, 1978." Those two dates are assigned to different chapters rather than standing against one another: SPS 320.03 gives December 1, 1978 as the effective date of ch. SPS 322, the energy chapter, and June 1, 1980 as the effective date of chs. SPS 320 and 321, which carry these roofing rules. For a reroof, June 1, 1980 is the date that governs. A municipality may close the gap itself -- the note to SPS 320.05(1) states that chs. SPS 320 to 325 "may be adopted by a municipality to apply to any additions or alterations to existing dwellings" -- and whether Green Bay has done so is NOT established by this record. Separately, SPS 320.05(3) provides that the code does "not apply to repairs or maintenance to dwellings or dwelling units," and SPS 320.07(61) defines "repair" to include "the replacement of existing fixtures, systems or equipment with the equivalent" fixture, system or equipment, which is a fair description of a like-for-like tear-off and replacement -- while SPS 321.28(6) regulates reroofing by name. Those two provisions are in genuine tension; this record states both and does not adjudicate between them. On a dwelling built before 1980, or on a like-for-like replacement, confirm scope with the City of Green Bay Inspection Division before relying on the layer rule.

Do roofing contractors need a license or registration in Green Bay, WI?

Yes. STATE credential, not a Green Bay one. Wis. Admin. Code § SPS 305.31(1) provides that no person may obtain a building permit for a one- or two-family dwelling unless that person either (a) holds a DSPS-issued Dwelling Contractor certification or Dwelling Contractor -- Restricted certification, or (b) "[h]olds or engages, as an employee, a person who holds a certification issued by the department as a dwelling contractor qualifier." Wis. Stat. § 101.65(1m) is the statutory hook that makes this a precondition local permit offices must check: a municipality "[m]ay not issue a building permit to a person who is required to be certified under s. 101.654 unless that person, on applying for a building permit, produces a certificate issued by the department or other evidence satisfactory to the department showing that the person is in compliance with s. 101.654." There is no separate Wisconsin roofing-contractor licence -- roofing is one of the subject areas covered by the single, general DSPS Dwelling Contractor / Dwelling Contractor Qualifier scheme. The DCQ credential requires at least 12 hours of an approved initial qualifier course in dwelling construction within one year before application (DSPS form fm3097). Green Bay administers this check but cannot substitute its own credential scheme (Wis. Stat. § 101.65(1c)). GREEN BAY-SPECIFIC WRINKLE: because Green Bay does not require a building permit for an ordinary one- or two-family re-roof (see repair_permit_threshold), the § 101.65(1m) permit-counter check never fires for that work -- but the DSPS credentialing obligation itself is independent of whether a local permit is pulled.

What building code does Green Bay, WI use?

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.