City of Kettering, Ohio - Building Division

City of Kettering, Ohio

city

3600 Shroyer Road, Kettering, OH 45429

Required

Not required

Kettering's Planning and Development Department / Building Division (937-296-2441; general city line 937-296-2400) is at the City of Kettering Government Center, 3600 Shroyer Road, Kettering, OH 45429. Permit applications are submitted and paid for online through the Access Kettering portal (Accela Citizen Access, aca-prod.accela.com/KETTERING). Per Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301, read in full this session, before construction or site work may begin the project must be reviewed and approved by all required City departments (building, fire, zoning, stormwater as applicable), and a Certificate of Plan Approval may be required confirming code compliance; a single department's approval alone does not authorize construction to begin. A permit is valid for 180 days, with a one-time extension available by mutual agreement for weather, material availability, disaster, or other extenuating circumstances (Section 1301.04.E). Starting or continuing unpermitted, illegal construction, erection, repair, use, or maintenance is punishable by a fine of not more than $500, with each day of continuing violation a separate offense, plus administrative costs including re-inspection fees (Section 1301.08). Per the Residential Construction page, read in full this session, the State of Ohio adds a 1% state fee to the cost of Kettering and Oakwood residential structure, electric, plumbing and heating permits.

SET BY STATE RULE, with a Kettering-specific administrative adoption layer confirmed this session. Ohio regulates one-, two- and three-family dwelling construction statewide through the Residential Code of Ohio (RCO), adopted by the Ohio Board of Building Standards under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3781 and codified at Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 4101:8. The roof-assembly rule (OAC 4101:8-9-01) and the climatic/geographic design-criteria rule (OAC 4101:8-3-01) were both read in full this session from the state's own codes.ohio.gov copies; both carry an effective date of July 1, 2019 (Five Year Review date 7/1/2024). Ohio Rev. Code 3781.01(B) lets a municipal legislative authority add non-conflicting local building regulations. The City of Kettering's own Codified Ordinances, Part Thirteen, Chapter 1301 ("Kettering Building Codes"), read in full this session (Sections 1301.01-1301.08), is the city's building-code adoption instrument referenced elsewhere on the city's site as "Ordinance 1301." Section 1301.01 collectively adopts, by reference and without separately codifying the text: (A) the Ohio Building Code (OAC 4101:1-1 to 4101:1-35) for all buildings except one-, two- and three-family dwellings, and (B) the Residential Code of Ohio (OAC 4101:8-1 to 4101:8-43) for one-, two- and three-family dwellings, "as the RCO currently exists or may hereafter be amended" -- a floating adoption rather than a fixed edition year. The chapter's legislative history footer lists amending ordinances through "Ord. 4447-26; passed 4/28/26." The remainder of Chapter 1301 (Sections 1301.02-1301.08) is purely administrative (permit application, issuance, completion, extensions, unlawful acts, and penalties) and does not amend RCO Chapter 9 (roof assemblies) in any way -- no drip-edge, ice-barrier, layer-count, impact-rating, or wind-design language appears anywhere in the chapter. Kettering's index of all Part Thirteen ("Building Code") chapters was also read in full this session and confirms no other chapter (1311 Registration of Plumbers; 1321-1328 Property Maintenance Code administration) touches roofing technical provisions either. The city's code is self-hosted at ketteringoh.org/documents/ (confirmed NOT on Municode this session -- api.municode.com returned no client record for Kettering, OH) rather than on a third-party code library.

Not required — SET BY STATE RULE, confirmed this session from the state's own copy. The entire text of RCO Section 905.2.8.5 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019) is: "905.2.8.5 Drip edge. Refer to Sections 903.1 and 905.1." Section 903.1 (General) requires only that roof coverings be secured "in accordance with the provisions of this chapter" and "the approved manufacturer's instructions," and Section 905.1 (Roof covering application) is a general wind-load-resistance provision -- neither imposes a drip-edge mandate with dimensional or fastening specifications. Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301 (Kettering Building Codes), read in full this session, does not separately address drip edge and amends nothing in RCO Chapter 9, so this record reflects the state floor. About drip edge

Required — SET BY STATE RULE, read in full this session from the state's own copy. RCO Table 301.2(1) (OAC 4101:8-3-01, effective 7/1/2019) pre-fills "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required" as "Yes" for the entire state, with footnote (h) reciting, verbatim, that per Sections 905.1.2, 905.4.3.1, 905.5.3.1, 905.6.3.1, 905.7.3.1 and 905.8.3.1, "all jurisdictions in Ohio have a history of local damage from the effects of ice damming." RCO Section 905.1.2, also read in full this session, requires the ice barrier for asphalt shingles (among other coverings) to consist of "not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet," extending from the lowest roof edge to a point not less than 24 inches inside the exterior wall line (36 inches on slopes at or above 8:12). Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301 (Kettering Building Codes), read in full this session, does not separately address ice barriers and amends nothing in RCO Chapter 9. About ice & water barrier

Not required — Not established as a sourced affirmative. Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301 (Kettering Building Codes), read in full this session -- including Section 1301.04 ("Compliance with Regulations"), which covers permit application, issuance, and completion in detail -- does not enumerate a specific mid-roof, dry-in, or roof-covering inspection stage. Section 1301.04.D requires only that "[a]ll regulations... applicable to the Permit have been satisfied" before a permit is deemed Complete, without naming a discrete mid-roof inspection step for a residential re-roof. Recorded as a sourced negative -- required: false -- rather than asserting an inspection-stage list that was not found in the chapter read this session.

Not required — SET BY STATE RULE (absence), confirmed this session. RCO Section 4101:8-9-01 (roof assemblies, effective 7/1/2019) was read in full and contains no occurrence of "UL 2218" or "Class 4" anywhere in its 30 pages. Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301 (Kettering Building Codes), also read in full this session, likewise contains no "UL 2218" or "Class 4" impact-resistance requirement; it does not amend RCO Chapter 9 at all. No impact-resistant (hail) roof-covering mandate applies in Kettering.

CITY-SPECIFIC: no minimum-valuation or minor-repair exemption was identified for residential roofing. The city's own "Do I Need a Permit?" page, read in full this session, states the general rule verbatim: "When is a Permit Required? When the owner/agent wants to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move[,] change the occupancy of a building or structure, or portion thereof..." and lists no dollar-valuation or minor-repair carve-out for any category, including roofing. Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301 (Kettering Building Codes), read in full this session, likewise contains no valuation threshold or minor-repair exemption in its own "Other Work Requiring Permits" section (1301.02, which addresses only sump pumps and pool/hot-tub electrical systems) or anywhere else in the chapter. Permit fees are set administratively under Codified Ordinances Section 133.02 ("Public Service Fees"), which was also read in full this session (via OCR of the city's own scanned PDF) and contains no published fee table or valuation exemption -- it authorizes the City Manager to approve a fee schedule by separate administrative action rather than codifying dollar amounts in the ordinance itself; that separate fee schedule was not located this session.

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Table 301.2(1) ("Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria"), OAC 4101:8-3-01 effective 7/1/2019, read in full this session from the state's own copy, pre-fills a Wind Design Speed of 115 mph (ultimate design wind speed) for the entire state -- printed directly in the table rather than left blank for local fill-in -- along with Weathering "severe," Termite "Moderate to heavy," and Ice Barrier Underlayment Required "Yes." Wind exposure category is determined site-specifically per Section 301.2.1.4, not by state or city rule. Ground snow load is the one geographically-varying cell in the table and is NOT pre-filled statewide: the master rule leaves that cell blank, with footnote (o) directing, verbatim, "The jurisdiction shall fill in this section of the table using the Ground Snow Loads in Figure 301.2(6)." No Kettering- or Montgomery-County-specific reading of that figure was obtained from a Kettering or Montgomery County primary source this session, so no ground snow load figure is stated here. Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301, read in full this session, does not supply a local ground-snow-load figure either.

SET BY STATE RULE. No Kettering-specific layer-count provision was found in Chapter 1301 (read in full this session). The statewide RCO floor, read in full this session from the state's own copy, governs instead: RCO Section 908.3 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019) requires that "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck" (with a narrow exception permitting an existing adhered ice-barrier membrane to remain and be covered by an additional layer). Where a roof recover (new covering installed over an existing one, without tear-off) is used instead of a full replacement, RCO Section 908.3.1.1 bars the recover method outright "[w]here the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering" -- operating as a two-layer cap on the recover pathway; beyond that, full tear-off to the deck is required.

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Section 905.2.1 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019), read in full this session from the state's own copy, states verbatim: "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks." No Kettering-specific deck-sheathing provision was found: Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301 (Kettering Building Codes), read in full this session, does not address deck sheathing and amends nothing in RCO Chapter 9.

SET BY STATE RULE. RCO Section 905.2.5 (OAC 4101:8-9-01, effective 7/1/2019), read in full this session, requires fasteners for asphalt shingles to be galvanized steel, stainless steel, aluminum, or copper roofing nails, minimum 12-gage shank with a minimum 3/8-inch-diameter head, complying with ASTM F1667, of a length to penetrate not less than 3/4 inch into the roof sheathing (through the sheathing where it is thinner than 3/4 inch). Section 905.2.6 requires not less than four fasteners per strip shingle or two fasteners per individual shingle, per the manufacturer's approved installation instructions. Codified Ordinances Chapter 1301, read in full this session, does not add a Kettering-specific fastening requirement. About roofing nails

Montgomery County's combined state-and-local sales and use tax rate is 7.50%, per the Ohio Department of Taxation's Sales and Use Tax Rate Map (dated March 31, 2026, reflecting rates in effect as of October 2025), read in full this session: a 5.75% state rate (per the map's own note 3, "The current state rate is 5.75%") plus a 1.25% Montgomery County permissive rate plus a 0.50% transit permissive rate, printed in the map's own county table as "Montgomery 1.25% 0.50% 7.50%." The map's narrative separately lists "Montgomery County (7.50 percent)" among the counties with rates above 7.30 percent.