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

Roofing questions: Township of Haverford, PA

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

Yes, a permit is required to replace a roof in Township of Haverford, PA. Haverford Township states no size or cost threshold below which roof work needs no permit. Its Roof Permit Application Addendum (https://www.havtwp.org/Document_Library/Building_and_Codes/Roof_Permit_Addedum_and_Building_Permit_App.pdf, version V-02-2025, read October 5, 2026) says "This questionnaire must be filled out for all roofing permit applications to provide us with a complete description of the existing and proposed roofing materials" and asks "How many squares will be installed?" and "Specify portion of roof to be repaired or replaced?"; its 2026 fee schedule (Resolution No. 2477-2026) has a residential permit line for "Roofing, siding, windows and doors" at $20 per $1,000 of cost; and the Building & Codes page lists "Roofing & Siding" among permit applications accepted online. Pennsylvania's Construction Code Act says it "shall not apply to" "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 in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503" (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6)). Section 503(c) adds: "An ordinance under this subsection shall not be effective nor enforceable unless subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (i) have been satisfied." This record does not decide whether the municipality's requirement is one adopted under section 503 or kept in effect by section 303(b)(1). In practice, expect the Department to require a permit for a reroof, as its forms state; the fee schedule says "SURCHARGE FOR PROJECTS WITHOUT A REQUIRED PERMIT IS 2X PERMIT FEE." 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, Haverford Township's Building & Codes Department administers the code. Chapter 58 of the Code of Haverford Township, which adopts the Uniform Construction Code as the municipal building code, was read (Articles I and IV) and names no roof work.

Can you roof over an existing roof in Township of Haverford, 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, Haverford Township's Roof Permit Application Addendum (version V-02-2025), which "must be filled out for all roofing permit applications," states the Township's policy: "In compliance with the Township's building code, a maximum of two layers of shingles are permitted to be installed on a roof." It adds that "In the case of an existing wood shingle roof with one or more roofs above, all roof layers must be removed and new sheathing applied," that "If the initial roof is a wood shingle roof that has never been re-roofed, a second roof may be installed," and that "a new roof may not be installed over any of the following roof systems: wood shake, slate, clay, and cement or asbestos-cement tile." The two-layer figure matches the third R908.3.1.1 condition quoted above; the form's wood shingle rule, and wood shake in its list, are not among the three conditions quoted above. Haverford Township's Building & Codes Department administers the code. Chapter 58 of the Code of Haverford Township, which adopts the Uniform Construction Code as the municipal building code, was read (Articles I and IV); it makes no change to roof coverings or reroofing and names no roof work.

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

Yes.

What building code does Township of Haverford, 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, Haverford Township's Building & Codes Department administers the code; its page says the Department is responsible for "reviewing and issuing construction permits" and for "the inspection of work for compliance with the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code and the Code of Haverford Township." Chapter 58, Building Construction, of the Code of Haverford Township was read (its table of contents and the captured text of Articles I and IV). Section 58-1 adopts "The Uniform Construction Code, contained in 34 Pa. Code, Chapters 401 through 405, as amended from time to time" as the municipal building code; section 58-2's additions concern certificates of occupancy on sale, sidewalks and curbs; section 58-11 says "The Township of Haverford hereby elects to administer and enforce" the Act; and section 58-14 keeps in force building code ordinances adopted on or before July 1, 1999 "which equal or exceed the requirements of the code," which were not identified. None of it names roof work, and a code-wide search for "roof" found no section naming roofing as permit work or as exempt other than the Township's fee schedule, published in the Code's appendix with its line for "Roofing, siding, windows and doors." No ordinance reaching residential reroofing in terms was found in those reads. The Township treats roofing as permit work through its Roof Permit Application Addendum and a roofing line in its 2026 fee schedule.