Do you need a permit to replace a roof in La Plata County, CO?

La Plata County, Colorado

county

Durango, CO

Required

Not required

Building permits are required by La Plata County for all new structures, additions, remodels and placement of manufactured/modular homes in unincorporated (non-city, township or Tribal) properties. Applications are submitted through the county's online CityView permitting portal. The county's published permit pages do not call out re-roofing separately; work exempt from permits is listed in Building Code Section 105.2, and the county's local amendments to that section do not list roofing among the exemptions.

County building officials conduct inspections throughout construction, including footings, stem wall, nailing, framing, plumbing, mechanical and energy compliance. Upon successful completion of inspections a Certificate of Occupancy is issued.

The Board of County Commissioners adopted the county's updated Building Code by resolution on June 23, 2026, including adoption of the 2024 International Code Council (ICC) code family and the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). A Wildfire Resiliency Code was adopted March 17, 2026 and became effective June 17, 2026. The State of Colorado adopts and enforces the National Electrical Code.

Required — La Plata County Code Sec. 18-36's Table R301.2 amendment prints "Ice barrier underlayment required" as one of the county's climatic design criteria. The County's own Building Permit Application Packet (revised 2/9/2024) independently lists "Ice barrier underlayment required" as its own bullet under "Climate and Geographic Design Requirements," matching the codified table. About ice & water barrier

Not required — La Plata County's codified building regulations were read in full. Chapter 18 of the County Code runs from Section 18-31 through Section 18-44 and adopts the 2024 International Residential and Building Codes together with the 2024 Mechanical, Plumbing, Fuel Gas and Energy Conservation Codes and the electrical code; every operative section is stamped to Resolution No. 2026-14, adopted June 23, 2026 and effective June 30, 2026, which is the resolution the County's Building Division names as its current adoption. The amendment sections, 18-36 for the Residential Code and 18-38 for the Building Code, were read with the shared administrative Section 18-35. Their roof-related amendments are structural only: Section R301.6 is replaced so the roof is designed for a live load taken from the County's elevation-based table, Section R802.10.3 is replaced with truss bracing requirements, and Section 1608.1 of the Building Code directs roof systems to that same snow load table. Nothing in either amendment list reaches Chapter 9 of the Residential Code or Chapter 15 of the Building Code. Chapter 19 of the County Code, added by Resolution No. 2026-9 on March 17, 2026 and effective June 17, 2026, adopts all chapters of the 2025 Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code together with the State's Wildfire Resiliency Code Fire Intensity Classification map, and applies in the unincorporated areas of the County that lie outside the boundaries of a fire protection district; its own revisions at Section 19-7 are administrative, covering the code's title, the non-application of its appendices, the responsible agency, liability and definitions. That code requires a Class A roof covering tested to ASTM E108 or UL 790 where 25 percent or more of the roof surface is replaced, at its Sections 101.6 and 403.2, which is a fire classification independent of impact rating. Neither the adopted codes nor any County amendment requires impact- resistant roof coverings or names a UL 2218 or Class 4 standard.

La Plata County Code Sec. 18-36 "Amendments and Deletions to the 2024 International Residential Code" (current through Res. No. 2026-14, effective 6/30/2026) fills in "TABLE R301.2 CLIMATIC AND GEOGRAPHIC DESIGN CRITERIA" with: Wind speed "90 MPH Basic, 115 MPH Ultimate (3 sec. gust) Exposure B or C applies"; Seismic Design Category "B"; Weathering "Severe"; Frost Depth "32 inches"; Winter Design Temperature "1 degrees F."; Mean Annual Temperature "52 degrees F."; Air Freezing Index "2000"; Climate Zone "5"; ground snow load referred out to Table R301.2.3 (elevation-based, ranging roughly 57-242 psf across the county's elevation range). Topographic effects, special wind region and windborne debris zone columns are not separately broken out in the printed table. The County's own Building Permit Application Packet (revised 2/9/2024, pre-dating the 2024 code cycle) independently states "Wind speed-90 MPH Basic, 115 MPH Ultimate (3 sec. gust) Exposure B or C applies (Table R301.2(3))," an exact match corroborating the value's currency across the code edition change.

5.9% combined in unincorporated La Plata County (state 2.9% + La Plata County 3%; no city component since this record covers the unincorporated county). The county's own Sales Tax Information page states, "La Plata County's sales tax rate is 3%, or three cents per $1.00 in retail sales," following a 2025 voter-approved third cent, and that "the Colorado Department of Revenue collects the state sales tax and La Plata County sales tax" (state-collected). Effective 2026-07-01 the Colorado Department of Revenue added an "Upper Pine River Fire Protection District (New District)" sales tax of 1.00%. That district covers eastern La Plata County -- by its own account the Bayfield, Gem Village, Forest Lakes, Vallecito Lake and Lemon Reservoir areas -- not the whole unincorporated county, so a job site inside the district's boundaries carries 6.9% rather than 5.9%. District membership is parcel-specific and is not asserted here for any given address.