Knox County, Tennessee - Codes Administration

Knox County, Tennessee

county

400 Main Street, Suite 547, Knoxville, TN 37902

Required

Required

Knox County's Codes Administration department (400 Main Street, Suite 547, Knoxville) reviews plans and issues residential building permits through its online Knox Permit Portal, with a separate Permit Inspection Lookup tool for scheduling and viewing inspection results. Applications are taken 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; plan sets larger than 11x14 inches must be submitted in PDF format rather than in person. A 2.50% convenience fee, collected by a third-party processor and not retained by the county, applies to credit-card transactions. Property owners may self-permit their own single-family residence under the county's Homeowner's Affidavit (citing TCA 62-6-103), limited to one such permit every two years, for their own use and not for resale, lease, or rent; anyone else hired to do the work must be a properly licensed contractor.

2018 International Residential Code (IRC), adopted by Knox County Ordinance O-18-10-101 (2nd reading approved November 19, 2018), which repealed and replaced the county's prior 2012-edition codes. The ordinance's own text (read in full) states it adopts "the 2018 edition of the International Residential Code...by reference, as if set out at length in this section, with the amendments set out in this article." The county's separately published "History of Codes Adoptions" document corroborates the same ordinance number and 2018 IRC edition.

Required — Knox County adopts the 2018 IRC by Ordinance O-18-10-101. The county's own amendments document (read in full, covering appendices, R102, R105.2, Table R301.2(1), R302.5.1, R303.4, R313, R314.3, R502.11.4, energy-chapter tables, and the manufactured-housing appendices) does not touch Chapter 9's roof-covering provisions, so the base 2018 IRC drip-edge requirement applies unmodified. About drip edge

Not required — The county's own 2018 IRC amendments document, read in full, amends Table R301.2(1) (Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria) with the instruction "Insert 'No' in the table for Ice Barrier Underlayment Required." No other provision in either amendment document adds an ice-barrier or ice-and-water-shield requirement. About ice & water barrier

Not required — I read the county's own IRC amendments document and its "Significant Changes" summary in full; neither contains the strings "UL 2218" or "Class 4," and neither amends any Chapter 9 impact-rating provision. No impact-resistant roof-covering mandate appears in Knox County's adopted code or its own amendments.

No dollar-value or size threshold is published for repair work. The county's own Schedule of Fees prices building permits starting at the lowest valuation tier ($50 for a project valuation up to $2,000, rising $5 per additional $1,000), with no stated minimum valuation below which a permit is not required and no roofing-specific exemption.

Per the county's own amendments to 2018 IRC Table R301.2(1) (Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria): Wind Speed 90 (mph); topographic effects "No"; Seismic Design Category "C"; ground snow load 10 PSF; weathering "Severe"; frost line depth 12 inches; termite "Moderate to heavy"; winter design temperature 19 degrees Fahrenheit; air freezing index 210; mean annual temperature 59.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Knox County adopts the 2018 IRC by Ordinance O-18-10-101. Neither the county's IRC amendments document nor its "Significant Changes" summary (both read in full) amends any Chapter 9 roof-recover or roof- replacement layer provision, so the base 2018 IRC provisions on this point apply unmodified.

Knox County adopts the 2018 IRC by Ordinance O-18-10-101. Neither the county's IRC amendments document nor its "Significant Changes" summary (both read in full) amends any Chapter 9 roof-deck sheathing provision, so the base 2018 IRC provisions on this point apply unmodified. (The "Significant Changes" document does note new fastener and footing requirements for exterior decks under R507, but that section covers exterior deck structures, not roof-deck sheathing.)

9.25% combined rate for Knox County, Tennessee (7% Tennessee state sales tax plus 2.25% local option sales tax), per Avalara's published county rate table. The Tennessee Department of Revenue publishes local sales tax rates only through an interactive map tool rather than a plain readable document; Avalara is named here as the aggregator carrying the rate that mirrors that DOR tool.