Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Greensburg, PA?

Roofing questions: Greensburg, PA

Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Greensburg, PA?

No, Greensburg, PA does not require a permit to replace a roof. The City of Greensburg lists re-shingling a roof as work needing no permit, and any change to roof design as permit work. The City's Property Permit Requirements page (read October 7, 2026), under "When Is a Building Permit Required?", lists "Repair roof" and "Re-shingle roof" under "No Permit Required to:", and lists "Any change to roof design" under "Permit Required to:". The CEA residential application posted on the City's site lists "Residential repairs or alterations." among exemptions, adding "(Local Zoning may however apply to these exemptions)". Chapter 135 of the City Code, Construction Codes, Uniform, names no roof work either way and has no section of its own requiring permits for residential repairs or alterations; Section 151-10.1 A prices building permits for "commercial and residential (new construction and additions, repairs and alterations) buildings" without naming roof work, and the City's posted 2025 plan review fees from CEA have no roofing line. Section 135-5 A keeps in force building code ordinances adopted on or before July 1, 1999 that equal or exceed the code; the City's former Chapter 114, Building Construction, is marked reserved, and no older building ordinance is published with the code. The enacted text names no roof work on houses either way; the no-permit line is the City's stated practice, and this record does not decide whether it is the City's reading of the State's exclusion for house repairs. 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, The City of Greensburg has elected to administer and enforce the code (Section 135-1 of the City Code) through its Planning and Development Department, at City Hall, 416 S. Main Street, Room 203, and the City's Inspections page says "Plan reviews and specialized inspections required by the State Uniform Construction Code (UCC) are conducted by Code Enforcement Agency (CEA) of Jefferson Hills, PA." Residential projects are dropped off at the Planning and Development Office and "processed by a representative of CEA for plan review." The City's line falls between "Re-shingle roof" and "Repair roof", which need no permit, and "Any change to roof design", which does; no City text sets an area, percentage or cost threshold for roof work.

Can you roof over an existing roof in Greensburg, 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, The City of Greensburg has elected to administer and enforce the code (Section 135-1 of the City Code) through its Planning and Development Department, at City Hall, 416 S. Main Street, Room 203, and the City's Inspections page says "Plan reviews and specialized inspections required by the State Uniform Construction Code (UCC) are conducted by Code Enforcement Agency (CEA) of Jefferson Hills, PA." Residential projects are dropped off at the Planning and Development Office and "processed by a representative of CEA for plan review." Chapter 135 of the City Code changes nothing in the code's reroofing provisions, and the City's pages say nothing on roof layers. Section 135-2 of the City Code (amended by Ord. No. 2183, December 8, 2025) says the City "hereby adopts the 2021 Uniform Construction Code," and the City's online permit portal says "Greensburg has adopted the 2021 ICC.", while the department's older About page says the City "follows the 2015 UCC International Building Codes"; the text above is the 2021 edition's.

Do roofing contractors need a license or registration in Greensburg, PA?

Yes.

What building code does Greensburg, 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, The City of Greensburg has elected to administer and enforce the code (Section 135-1 of the City Code) through its Planning and Development Department, at City Hall, 416 S. Main Street, Room 203, and the City's Inspections page says "Plan reviews and specialized inspections required by the State Uniform Construction Code (UCC) are conducted by Code Enforcement Agency (CEA) of Jefferson Hills, PA." Residential projects are dropped off at the Planning and Development Office and "processed by a representative of CEA for plan review." Chapter 135 changes nothing in the code's roofing provisions. Section 135-2 of the City Code (amended by Ord. No. 2183, December 8, 2025) says the City "hereby adopts the 2021 Uniform Construction Code," and the City's online permit portal says "Greensburg has adopted the 2021 ICC.", while the department's older About page says the City "follows the 2015 UCC International Building Codes"; this record has not read the 2015 edition's text.