Town of Griffith, Indiana - Building Department

Town of Griffith, Indiana

city

111 N Broad Street, Griffith, IN 46319

Required

Required

WHERE AND HOW. The Griffith Building Department is at 111 N Broad Street, Griffith, on the lower level, on (219) 922-3091, fax (219) 924-3840, email [email protected]. Department hours are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 12 pm and 1 pm to 4:30 pm, closed for lunch and on all major holidays. The Town describes the department's reach in one sentence: "The Griffith Building Department oversees all work done by contractors and/or home owners within town limits. It is responsible for issuing building permits and performing inspections for construction and remodeling projects." Its listed services are contractor licensing, building permits, occupancy permits, plan review, planning and zoning, and acting as point of contact for the Board of Zoning Appeals and Plan Commission. Permit applications and contractor licences are both available online. THE ORDINANCE PUTS THE POWER IN THE BUILDING COMMISSIONER: § 14-2 creates the building department under the direct supervision of the town council, consisting of the building commissioner, inspectors and staff; § 14-33 authorises and directs the building commissioner "to administer and enforce all of the provisions of this article", while limiting his discretion to "determining whether this code has been complied with" and expressly denying any "power to require conditions not prescribed by ordinances or to enforce this article in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner." § 14-34 sets the reach: the article applies "to the construction, alteration, repair, use, occupancy, and addition to all buildings and structures, other than industrialized building systems or mobile structures certified under IC 22-15-4, in the town." PLANS. § 14-46(d) requires duplicate sets of plans and specifications for an alteration, erection or addition, approved in writing on the back by the building commissioner before the permit issues; one approved set stays with the commissioner as a public record and one "shall be kept on such building or work site at all times during which the work authorized thereby is in progress and shall be open to inspection by public officials", and approved plans "shall not be changed, modified, or altered without authorization from the building commissioner". Ask the department what it wants to see for a like-for-like replacement roof before assembling a full plan set. FEES AND INSPECTIONS, from § 14-106: project fees cover building, plumbing, electrical and HVAC permits together at "one percent valuation of total project cost (materials and labor). Thirty dollar minimum fee. No charge for individual permits. Each permit must still be applied for and approved as a total project." All inspections are $30.00 and all re-inspections are $30.00. A residential certificate of occupancy is $50.00 and a commercial one $75.00, and residential escrow is $250.00, refundable "upon completing all needed inspections and receiving a certificate of occupancy permit when COO is applicable." Valuations for new buildings, structures and additions are taken from the International Code Council's published Building Valuation Data. A CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST RULE THAT PUTS A DUTY ON THE OWNER: § 14-107 provides that "No inspector for the Town of Griffith shall inspect a work site for which the inspector has been previously consulted, or has given an estimate or bid. It shall be the responsibility of the property owner to notify the town in the event that the inspector was previously consulted, or provided an estimate or bid on the project." MATERIAL ON THE STREET IS DECIDED BY THE PERMIT: § 14-50 requires the permit to "particularly specify as to whether or not a part of the street right-of-way may be occupied by the builders with the building material", subject to not obstructing vehicles, persons or water - worth raising when a dumpster or a shingle drop will sit on the right-of-way. REVOCATION AND APPEAL: under § 14-49 the building commissioner reports a violation or a mistaken issue to the clerk-treasurer, who revokes the permit, notifies the applicant in writing and refunds the fee where it was issued in error; that action may be appealed to the zoning appeals board.

STATE-SET, AND GRIFFITH'S OWN ORDINANCE FLOATS FORWARD WITH IT. The residential rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, whose opening section provides that "That certain document being titled the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017, published by the International Code Council ... is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set out in this rule save and except those revisions made in this rule", and that "This rule shall be known as the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." It was filed November 26, 2019 and readopted on November 18, 2025 by the Readopted Final Rule at Indiana Register 20251210-IR-675240566RFA, effective January 1, 2026; every one of the rule's 245 sections carries that readoption in its own history line. THE TOWN'S ADOPTION. Griffith Town Code § 14-1(a) provides that "Building rules of the state fire prevention and building safety commission, as set out in the following articles of title 675 of the state administrative code are hereby incorporated by reference in this chapter and shall include later amendments to those articles as the amendments are published in the state register or the state administrative code with effective dates as fixed therein", and its second item is "Article 14, one- and two-family dwelling codes". So the Town takes the whole of Article 14 and takes it as amended from time to time. IC 22-13-2-3(b) says the same independently: a reference to the commission's rules by citation to the Indiana Administrative Code "shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date that the reference is written and any later amendments to that provision, unless accompanied by a reference to a specific edition or supplement to the Indiana Administrative Code." Two copies of the adopted rules are on file in the appropriate town office. THE SUB-LABELS UNDER THAT ITEM ARE DECADES OUT OF DATE and would mislead anyone reading the ordinance alone: they still read "Council of American Building Officials One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code", "CABO One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code; Amendments" and "Standard for Permanent Installation of Manufactured Homes", which are the titles of 675 IAC 14-2.1, 14-2 and 14-3, two of them repealed. Because the adoption is of the ARTICLE and takes later amendments, the rule in force - 675 IAC 14-4.4 - governs regardless. The Building Department's own page describes what permits are for in current terms: "Permits enable inspectors to oversee work is done correctly and enforce provisions of the Indiana Building Code and local ordinances." NOR COULD GRIFFITH SET A DIFFERENT CODE: IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules", and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. Griffith's § 14-33 acknowledges the point from the local side: "Any variance from adopted building rules are subject to approval under IC 22-13-2-7(b)." WHAT THE TOWN ADDS RATHER THAN CHANGES. Chapter 14 was read, Article I and the whole of Article II (building code) and Article VIII (contractors). Its local construction requirements are about space, basements, porches, access, fire limits, security gates, excavation, backfill, concrete, masonry, garages and gutters - not roof coverings. ONE LOCAL RULE THAT DOES TOUCH A ROOFING CREW: § 14-91 provides that gutters and downspouts are "Required when roof overhangs are less than 12 inches in width for one story or 24 inches in width for two stories", sets the material specification by gauge for copper, galvanized sheet metal and aluminium "in accordance with the recommendations of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractor's Association, Inc.", and provides that "In no instance shall the outlets be connected, directly or indirectly, to the sanitary sewer. Splash blocks are required." ONE VOCABULARY WARNING: "Class 2 structure" in Indiana means a one or two dwelling unit building. It is a STRUCTURE class and has nothing to do with a fire class or an impact class of roof covering. Griffith's codification is current through Ordinance No. 2026-3, enacted June 2, 2026.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT TOWN-SET, and unconditional on a shingle roof. Griffith cannot vary it: its own § 14-1 adopts the state building rules by reference, § 14-33 makes any variance from them "subject to approval under IC 22-13-2-7(b)", and IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules." The operative text is published first-hand by the Indiana State Building Commissioner, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020, which reproduces the adopted Section R905.2.8.5 in full: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs. Adjacent segments of drip edge shall be overlapped not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall extend not less than ¼ inch (6.4 mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up back onto the roof deck not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the rood deck at not more than 12 inches (305 mm) o.c. with fasteners as specified in Section R905.2.5 Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge along rake edges." The word "rood" in that passage is a typographical error in the published guidance, quoted here as printed; it plainly means the roof deck. The Indiana rule amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch R905.2.8.5, so this text governs as published. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED IN LAKE COUNTY - IT IS A COUNTY-BY-COUNTY ANSWER IN INDIANA, NOT A STATE ONE. Indiana deletes the model climatic table and substitutes its own: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows", and the substituted table runs one row per county. Row 45 is Lake, and it carries "Yes" in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". Twenty-seven of Indiana's ninety-two counties carry "Yes" there and they are the northern tier; the other sixty-five carry "No". The rest of the Lake County row is the northern Indiana set: wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, foundation depth 36 inches, winter design temperature 1 degree, decay Slight to Moderate, termite Moderate to Heavy, weathering Severe, air freezing index 2000 and mean annual temperature 49.0 degrees. Neighbouring Porter and LaPorte Counties read "Yes" as well, so the whole lakeshore corridor is consistent on this point. WHAT THE BARRIER HAS TO BE, from the version of the section actually in force. The Indiana State Building Commissioner publishes the adopted Section R905.1.2 first-hand, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, in the Ice/Water Shield and Metal Drip Edge guidance of February 25, 2020: "In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table R301.2(1), an ice barrier shall be installed for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes. The ice barrier shall consist of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet shall be used in place of normal underlayment and extend from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches (610 mm) inside the exterior wall line of the building. On roofs with slope equal to or greater than eight units vertical in 12 units horizontal ( 67-percent slope), the ice barrier shall also be applied not less than 36 inches (914 mm) measured along the roof slope from the eave edge of the building." The section carries one exception: "Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." AND THE SAME GUIDANCE MAKES A POINT WORTH CARRYING ACROSS THE COUNTY LINE: "there are specific counties in which it is always required (per Table R301.2(1)), and specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it". Lake County is in the first group, so in Griffith the barrier is required by the table itself and does not depend on what the shingle manufacturer says. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement applies in Griffith. The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes four amendments touching the model code's roofing chapter and not one of them concerns impact: 675 IAC 14-4.4-84 directs "Delete the text of the last sentence of SECTION R902.4 without substitution", the rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel section; 675 IAC 14-4.4-85 directs "Delete the words 'approved' from the text of SECTION R905.2.6 without substitution", on asphalt shingle attachment; 675 IAC 14-4.4-86 directs "Delete the word 'approved' from the text of SECTION R905.2.8 without substitution", on flashing; and 675 IAC 14-4.4-87 directs "Delete the word 'printed' from the text of SECTION R905.2.8.4 without substitution", on other flashing. Nothing in the rule imposes a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact rating. Nor could Griffith impose one by ordinance: its § 14-1 adopts the state building rules by reference rather than writing its own, IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules", and IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives those rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. An impact rating on a roof covering is the same subject matter as the state roofing chapter and would be a more stringent requirement, so a local mandate could not stand. Griffith's building chapter and its contractors article were read and neither imposes a roof-covering performance requirement of any kind; the Town's only material specifications in this area are for gutters and downspouts. TWO THINGS THAT GET MISTAKEN FOR AN IMPACT MANDATE IN INDIANA: the phrase "Class 2 structure", which is Indiana's STRUCTURE class for one and two dwelling unit buildings rather than any rating of the roof covering; and an insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle, which is a private contract term and not a code requirement.

FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR NON-STRUCTURAL RESIDENTIAL REMODELING - AND ROOFING IS NAMED IN THE ORDINANCE ITSELF, WHICH IS RARE. Griffith Town Code § 14-46(a) provides that "No person shall erect, construct, alter, build or cause to be erected, constructed, altered or built, any building or structure, or assist in the erection, building construction, alteration or addition of and to any building or structure as the latter two terms (building or structure) are defined in Chapter 86, Zoning, section 86-2, including, without limiting the generality thereof, concrete and/or asphalt drives, driveways, patios and parking areas, roofs and roofing, siding, window installation, garage door installation, interior alterations involving walls and/or partitions, and swimming pools and related structures, without first obtaining a permit therefore." The Town says the same in plainer words on its Building Department page, listing under work that requires a permit: "Interior/exterior remodeling such as: bathrooms, kitchens, finishing basements, framing, drywall, installation of new windows and doors, new siding, soffit, fascia, gutters, roofing, the cutting of any wall or partition, structure/framing changes, drain tile, tuck pointing". THE ONE EXEMPTION IS IN THE FEE SECTION AND IT IS SMALL. § 14-106 provides: "No building permit required for non-structural residential remodeling under $500.00 total cost. Total cost includes labor and material totals. Does not include plumbing, electrical or HVAC permits." Five hundred dollars including labour will not reach a re-roof on any whole roof, and the exemption is limited to NON-STRUCTURAL work, so a job that touches decking or framing is inside the permit requirement whatever it costs. The Town's published list of work that does NOT require a permit is short and contains nothing structural: "Changing light fixtures and receptacles", "Sewer rodding or maintenance", "Painting or wallpapering", "Residential floor coverings", "Landscaping" - with the Town's own footnote, "*All contractors must still hold a valid contractor license with the Town of Griffith". THE FEE IS A PERCENTAGE OF THE JOB. § 14-106 prices project fees, covering building, plumbing, electrical and HVAC permits together, on "one percent valuation of total project cost (materials and labor). Thirty dollar minimum fee. No charge for individual permits. Each permit must still be applied for and approved as a total project." All inspections and re-inspections are $30.00 each. So a $12,000 re-roof carries a $120 permit fee plus inspections. A SIGNED CONTRACT IS REQUIRED BEFORE THE PERMIT ISSUES, WHICH CATCHES ROOFERS WHO PERMIT FIRST AND SELL LATER. § 14-46(c): "No permit shall be issued until the contract for such building or structure shall have been made and entered into, and the permit shall set forth the price to be paid for such construction, and be signed by both the contractor and owner thereof, or his agent. However, if construction is proposed by the owner without a contractor's services, such owner shall act as both contractor and owner." The application must also state "the exact site to be occupied, the number of the lot and block or legal description, the name of the street, the contract price of the proposed building or structure, and the length of time allotted for construction" (§ 14-46(b)). THE PERMIT MUST BE POSTED: § 14-49 provides that the permit "shall be kept in full view at all times at the location of construction work", and that it is not valid until signed and approved by the building commissioner and issued by the clerk-treasurer on payment of the fee. TIME LIMIT: § 14-51 voids a permit if the work "is not commenced within six months and completed in one year from the date of such permit", renewable on showing good cause and paying a further fee.

115 mph. Indiana replaces the model IRC Table R301.2(1) with its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, which opens "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows". The Lake County row gives 115 in the column headed "Wind Speed" in miles per hour, and every one of the ninety-two county rows carries the same figure, so 115 mph is the one genuinely statewide Indiana roofing number. The same row gives seismic design category A, ground snow 30 psf, a 36 inch foundation depth, a winter design temperature of 1 degree and Severe weathering, with an air freezing index of 2000 and a mean annual temperature of 49.0 degrees. Griffith cannot raise or lower any of it by ordinance, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules, and any local variance from the adopted building rules would need state approval under IC 22-13-2-7(b), which Griffith's own § 14-33 acknowledges. EXPOSURE IS NOT SET BY THE TABLE AND MUST BE DETERMINED ON THE JOB: the table's own footnote to the wind column reads "Wind exposure shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with SECTION R301.2.1.4." Indiana has also amended that section itself, at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4, to fix how exposure is judged on a site in a subdivision or master-planned community where neighbouring structures are not built yet. Settle the exposure category for the particular address rather than assuming one.

NO LOCAL LAYER RULE IS POSSIBLE IN GRIFFITH. The residential code that applies here is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, which incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code. That rule runs to 245 numbered sections and it makes no amendment at all to the model code's reroofing and roof recover section, which does not appear anywhere in it. Its only amendments touching the model roofing chapter are deletions: a sentence struck from the rooftop-mounted photovoltaic panel section, the word "approved" struck from the asphalt shingle attachment section, the word "approved" struck from the flashing section and the word "printed" struck from the other-flashing section. Nothing in the state rule addresses how many layers of covering a roof may carry, so the base International Residential Code rule on recovering an existing roof applies here as published. Griffith has not added one and could not: its § 14-1 adopts the state building rules by reference rather than writing its own, its building chapter was read and its local construction requirements concern space, foundations, concrete, masonry, garages and gutters rather than roof coverings, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city, town or county from an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the state rules while IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter. The number of layers a particular roof may carry therefore comes out of the adopted International Residential Code itself. Settle the existing layer count with the Building Department on (219) 922-3091 against that code before quoting a recover rather than a tear-off - and either way the job needs a Griffith permit, because § 14-46(a) names roofs and roofing.

7.00% statewide, with no county or town add-on in Griffith or Lake County. Indiana levies a single state sales tax rate. The Department of Revenue's own page listing what Indiana does tax at county level - County Innkeeper's Tax, Food and Beverage Tax and Local Income Tax - closes with the sentence "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." The county-level tax Lake County levies is an income tax, not a sales tax, so there is no local percentage to add to a materials invoice. ONE THING PECULIAR TO THIS CORNER OF THE STATE: Griffith is a short drive from the Illinois line, and a crew buying materials in Illinois is buying under a different state's sales tax rules, with its own local add-ons, not Indiana's. Keep the two states' invoices apart. WHO PAYS THE INDIANA TAX DEPENDS ON THE SHAPE OF THE CONTRACT, NOT ON THE ROOF. Indiana Department of Revenue Sales Tax Information Bulletin #60 (March 2024) names roofing in its own definition of a contractor - "Examples of contractors include, but are not limited to, persons engaged in building, concrete work, carpentry, plumbing, heating and cooling, electrical work, roofing, plastering, tile work, road construction, landscaping, installing underground sprinkler or drainage systems, and making other improvements or repairs to real property" - and then splits on contract form. A "Time and Material Contract" is one "in which the cost of construction material and the cost of labor or other charges are stated separately"; a contractor working under one "is a retail merchant that is selling the construction material that it incorporates into real property, and must be registered with the department and collect sales tax on the material portion of their contracts", and may buy the material exempt for resale. A contractor working under any other form, such as a lump sum, is not a retail merchant: they "must pay sales or use tax on their construction material" and "do not collect sales tax from their customers". On labour the bulletin adds that "Installation charges separately stated on an invoice are not included in gross retail income." ONE LOCAL WRINKLE WORTH NOTING: Griffith requires the permit application to state the contract price and requires the contract to be signed before the permit issues, so the contract form is on the counter's desk as well as the accountant's. The bulletin is Department guidance and says of itself that information bulletins are not binding on the department or the taxpayer, so a roofer should settle their own contract form with an accountant.