City of La Porte Engineering & Building Department

City of La Porte, Indiana

city

801 Michigan Ave, La Porte, IN 46350

Required

Required

WHERE. Building permits are handled by the City's Engineering & Building office at City Hall, 801 Michigan Ave, La Porte, IN 46350, phone (219) 362-2327. Section 10-31(c) provides that "All permits shall be issued by the City Engineer, and all fees provided for herein shall be paid to the Clerk-Treasurer." HOW. The City's Building Permits page states: "Building Permit Applications must be submitted online." The City's Engineering & Building page sends permit applicants and contractor registrations to its service website, which now opens at laportein.portal.opengov.com, where the Roofing Permit and the Contractor Registration are separate applications. FEES. Per the Building Permits page, Residential Roofing is $50, permitted separately from other improvements, and a missed required inspection costs $50. PERMIT LIFE. Under section 10-31(d), "All permits issued by the engineer's office shall expire if work is not begun thereunder within 60 days of issuance of permit"; the City Engineer may extend a permit for another 90 days where work cannot begin in time. INSPECTIONS. Section 10-38(b) puts the inspection call on the contractor and requires the inspection within two working days of notification. STOP ORDERS AND PENALTIES. Under section 10-40 the City Engineer may stop work done contrary to the building article by written notice, and "No additional permit will be issued to the contractor until the issue is cleared up and notice to proceed with the work has been given." Section 10-46 sets a fine of up to $1,000.00 for each violation.

STATE-SET, AND LA PORTE'S OWN ADOPTION FLOATS FORWARD WITH IT. Section 10-29(a) of the La Porte Municipal Code incorporates by reference "The building rules of the Indiana Fire Prevention Building Safety Commission, as set out in the following articles of Title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code, as well as later amendments, supplements or additions to those articles as the same are published in the Indiana Register or the Indiana Administrative Code (with effective dates as fixed therein)". Its list includes Article 14, which the section still calls the One and Two-family Dwelling Code, the article's older name; the section names no edition, and its history note ends with Ord. No. 9-98. WHAT ARTICLE 14 CURRENTLY REACHES. The Indiana residential rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, whose first section incorporates "the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017" and provides that "This rule shall be known as the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." Indiana law would read the City's reference as floating even without its own words: IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that 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." 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." La Porte writes no technical amendment to the residential code: Chapter 10 of its Municipal Code, Buildings and Building Regulations, was read in full across all twelve articles and contains no roof-covering provision. A SEPARATE CODE, DO NOT CONFUSE IT. Article XII of Chapter 10 is the City's own Property Maintenance Code, which governs the upkeep of existing buildings. It requires, among other things, that "The roof and flashing shall be sound, tight and not have defects that admit rain", and it provides that where it conflicts with the building rules or fire safety rules of the state commission, "the rules of the commission shall control." It is not an installation standard for a new roof.

Required — REQUIRED, BY THE STATE RATHER THAN BY LA PORTE. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance on ice/water shield and metal drip edge in Class 2 construction, published on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, reproduces the adopted Section R905.2.8.5, which opens "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs." and goes on to set the overlap, the extension below the sheathing and onto the deck, the fastening and the underlayment order; take those figures from the guidance itself. 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch Section R905.2.8.5. Chapter 10 of the La Porte Municipal Code has no drip-edge provision, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the City from adding or varying one. About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED IN LaPORTE COUNTY, AND THE CITY SAYS ITS ROOFING INSPECTION CHECKS IT. Indiana deletes the model climatic table and substitutes its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5. Row 46, LaPorte, carries Yes in the Ice Shield Underlayment Required column; 27 of the state's 92 county rows do. The State Building Commissioner's guidance, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, reproduces the adopted Section R905.1.2: "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 of 8 in 12 slope or steeper the barrier must also run at least 36 inches up the slope from the eave edge, and the one exception is "Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." The 24 inches is measured inside the exterior wall line, not from the eave, so a deep overhang pushes the barrier further up the roof than a single 36 inch course may reach. On the local side, the City's Roofing Permit description lists Ice and Water Shield among the items a roofing inspection covers. La Porte has no ordinance of its own on the barrier and could not vary the state rule under IC 22-13-2-3(c). About ice & water barrier

Required — THE CITY'S OWN ROOFING PERMIT SAYS THE INSPECTION LOOKS AT WHAT THE SHINGLES WILL COVER. The Roofing Permit description on the City's permit portal reads "A Roofing inspection includes but is not limited to," and lists Decking and Ice and Water Shield. Neither can be seen once the roof is shingled, so plan for the inspector to see the deck and the membrane before the covering goes on, and agree the call point with the Engineering office when the permit issues. The code puts the call on the contractor: section 10-38(b) provides that "The contractor is responsible to insure that the City Engineer is notified of the need for an inspection. An inspection must be performed within two working days of notification." The fee schedule on the City's Building Permits page carries a Missed Required Inspection Fee of $50.

Not required — NOT REQUIRED. Chapter 10 of the La Porte Municipal Code, Buildings and Building Regulations, was read in full across all twelve articles; no UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact requirement appears in it, and the word impact does not occur. The state rule the City adopts, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes four amendments touching the roof assemblies chapter and none concerns impact resistance: it deletes the last sentence of Section R902.4 on rooftop photovoltaic systems, the word "approved" from Sections R905.2.6 and R905.2.8, and the word "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4. IC 22-13-2-3(c) would bar the City from adding an impact requirement of its own. Impact-rated shingles are an insurance and warranty decision in La Porte, not a code requirement.

THE CITY'S ROOFING PERMIT AND ITS CODE DRAW THE LINE IN DIFFERENT PLACES, AND BOTH ARE REPORTED HERE. On the City's online permit portal, the Engineering/Building Department's Roofing Permit carries this description: "Roof permit is needed when completely redoing a roof structure all the way to re-shingling. (If you are just doing a small patch job a permit is not necessary." So the line the department draws in practice runs between a full reshingle, which needs a permit, and a small patch, which does not. The portal gives no square-footage, dollar or percentage figure for where a patch ends. The fee schedule on the City's Building Permits page, which states that fees are assessed per Ordinance No. 10-2017, lists Residential Roofing at $50 under the heading "Permitted Separately from Other Improvements". THE CODIFIED PERMIT SECTION IS WRITTEN AROUND STRUCTURE. Section 10-31(a) of the La Porte Municipal Code reads: "A permit shall be obtained before beginning any construction, alteration, or repair of any building in the city which requires a change in the support members of any part of the building, or which requires new plumbing, heating, air conditioning or electrical conducting installations using forms furnished by the City Engineer." A like-for-like reshingle changes no support member, so that sentence on its own would not reach it. This record follows the City's dedicated roofing permit and fee and discloses the section 10-31(a) wording rather than choosing between them, as read on September 11, 2026. Settle any doubt about a partial job with the Engineering office on (219) 362-2327 before the tear-off. HISTORIC DISTRICTS. Section 10-31 also requires a permit "for any work that would require a certificate of appropriateness pursuant to section 54-76 at any property listed as a local designated historic district in section 54-111 of this Code", with no permit fee charged where that is the only reason a permit is needed. THE CONTRACTOR CARRIES THE RISK. Under section 10-35(g), "In no case shall a registered contractor start work on any project that does not have a building permit." A first offence within two years draws a warning letter, a second a three-month suspension of the contractor's City registration, and a third revocation.

115 mph, FROM THE STATE'S COUNTY-BY-COUNTY TABLE, NOT A LA PORTE ENACTMENT. Indiana deletes the model Table R301.2(1) and substitutes its own at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5. The LaPorte County row, row 46, gives a wind speed of 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow load 30 psf, winter design temperature 1 degree F, decay slight to moderate, termite moderate to heavy, weathering severe, ice shield underlayment required Yes, air freezing index 2000 and mean annual temperature 49.7 degrees F. All 92 county rows carry the same 115 mph wind speed. Chapter 10 of the La Porte Municipal Code contains no design wind speed, snow load or other climatic figure, and IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the City from varying the state's. Wind exposure category is a site-by-site determination under Section R301.2.1.4, which Indiana amends only for structures built as part of a subdivision or master-planned community; settle it with the Engineering office for an exposed site rather than assuming the category used elsewhere.

NO CITY RULE AND NO STATE AMENDMENT, SO THE BASE RESIDENTIAL CODE'S REROOFING SECTION APPLIES UNMODIFIED. Chapter 10 of the La Porte Municipal Code was read in full, all twelve articles, and it contains no layer, overlay, tear-off or reroofing provision. Its only roof references are the roof contracting named in the contractor registration section, the construction of sidewalk sheds, the protection of adjoining roofs during demolition, and the property maintenance rule that a roof be sound and tight. On the state side, 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code, makes no amendment to Section R908, the reroofing section of the 2018 International Residential Code. Its only amendments in the roof assemblies chapter delete the last sentence of Section R902.4 on rooftop photovoltaic systems, the word "approved" from Sections R905.2.6 and R905.2.8, and the word "printed" from Section R905.2.8.4. The City could not write a layer rule of its own under IC 22-13-2-3(c). Base-code rule, read at 2018 International Residential Code Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed: a roof recover "shall not be permitted" where "the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second existing layer means a tear-off to the deck. Settle the existing layer count with the Engineering office against that section before quoting a recover rather than a tear-off; either way the job needs the City's Roofing Permit.

NO LOCAL SHEATHING RULE EXISTS, AND NONE COULD. Chapter 10 of the La Porte Municipal Code was read in full and contains no occurrence of sheathing; its only use of deck concerns exterior stairways, decks, porches and balconies in the property maintenance code. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the City from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state commission's rules. The deck side of an asphalt reroof is therefore set by the 2018 International Residential Code as incorporated by 675 IAC 14-4.4. Sec. 82 of 675 IAC 14-4.4 deletes the words "or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency" from Section R803.2.1, the section headed identification and grade; otherwise the sheathing provisions apply as incorporated. WHAT THE CITY DOES SAY. Its Roofing Permit description reads "A Roofing inspection includes but is not limited to," and lists Decking first, so expect the deck to be looked at before it is covered.

7.00% statewide, with no county or city add-on in La Porte or LaPorte County. The Indiana Department of Revenue's county tax information page states: "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." WHO PAYS IT DEPENDS ON THE SHAPE OF THE CONTRACT. Department of Revenue Sales Tax Information Bulletin #60 names roofing among the trades in its definition of a contractor and then splits on contract form. A "Time and Material Contract" "means a contract 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". A contractor on any other contract form, such as a lump sum, "must pay sales or use tax on their construction material" and consequently does "not collect sales tax from their customers". On labour the bulletin adds: "Installation charges separately stated on an invoice are not included in gross retail income." The bulletin says of itself that information inconsistent with the law "is not binding on either the department or the taxpayer", so settle your own contract form with an accountant.