Latah County - Planning, Building and GIS

Latah County, Idaho

county

200 S Almon Street, Suite 102, Moscow, ID 83843

Required

Required

THE FEE AND WHAT IT BUYS. The County Development Services Fee Schedule, as adopted by Resolution 2023-18 and amended by Resolutions 2024-14, 2025-06 and 2025-10, charges a flat $75.00 for a "Re-Roof", the same as "Siding" and "Window Replacement (No Change in Size)". Latah County Code section 7-1-11 leaves building valuations and fees to be "set by separate resolution", so the resolution rather than the ordinance is where the current figure lives; check it for a later amendment before quoting a price. THE APPLICATION ITSELF. The County's Windows, Siding, and Roofing Application asks for the number of existing layers, whether the old material will be removed, and the brand and type of material, and it takes the property owner's signature; a contractor or authorised agent may sign only "When allowed by office policy" and "with permission of the property owner" (section 7-1-3(B), item 6). It carries a contractor licence number field. Plans and the septic and road-access attachments that a new build needs are not required for a reroof - see the repair permit threshold above. KEEP THE PERMIT ALIVE AND WATCH THE 48-HOUR CLAUSE. Section 7-1-3(C) makes a permit invalid if the work is not commenced within 180 days of issuance or is suspended or abandoned for 180 days, with up to three written extensions of not more than 180 days each from the Building Official, each carrying a fee. The reroof application form adds a term a contractor should read before signing: "I AGREE THAT PURPOSELY SCHEDULING AN INSPECTION MORE THAN 48 BUSINESS HOURS IN ADVANCE OF THE INSPECTION WAIVES MY RIGHTS PRESCRIBED UNDER IDAHO CODE SECTION 39-4117." The same form makes the permit "NULL AND VOID IF NO INSPECTION IS REQUESTED AND PERFORMED FOR THE WORK AUTHORIZED WITHIN 180 DAYS FROM DATE OF ISSUANCE", and states that the County has no responsibility to warn of expiration. STARTING WITHOUT ONE IS EXPENSIVE. The County's own FAQ answers the question: "You will be issued an order to cease building, pay double the permit fee, and have a certificate of non-compliance recorded against your property", and if the violation continues it goes to the Prosecutor, with each day counting as a separate violation. Section 7-1-9(B) sets a stop-work fine of "not less than $300 for each day the work continues", and 7-1-9(C) makes a wilful violation a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $300.00, up to ninety days, or both. APPEALS. Section 7-1-3(G) creates a three-member Board of Appeals appointed by the County Commissioners, with the Building Official sitting ex officio and without a vote. An appeal must be filed in writing with the Department within fifteen days of the notice or action appealed, with the fee set in section 7-1-11; the Board is appointed within thirty days, hears the appeal within forty-five days of appointment, and must decide within thirty days of the hearing. "The Board of Appeals shall have no authority to waive any requirement of this code." THE COUNTY'S CONTACT AND HOURS. Latah County Planning & Building, 200 S Almon Street, Suite 102, Annex Building, Moscow, Idaho 83843; (208) 883-7220; Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm; plans and documents to [email protected].

LOCALLY ENACTED, ON THE 2018 EDITIONS, AND THE COUNTY TAKES MORE OF THE RESIDENTIAL CODE THAN THE STATE DOES. Latah County Code Title 7, Chapter 1, "Building Codes and Regulations", section 7-1-2(A): "In accordance with Idaho Code Title 39 Chapter 41, Idaho Code Title 44 Chapters 21 and 22, and the Idaho Administrative Procedures Act Section 24.39 (7.03), the codes adopted for Latah County as amended herein and by the State of Idaho, include: 1. The International Building Code, 2018 edition 2. The International Residential Code, 2018 edition, parts I through VI 3. The International Mechanical Code, 2018 edition 4. The International Fuel Gas Code, 2018 edition 5. The International Energy Conservation Code, 2018 edition 6. The International Existing Building Code, 2018 edition 7. The International Property Maintenance Code, 2018 edition". Section 7-1-1 states that "The codes as adopted in this chapter shall be designated as the Latah County Building Code. These regulations apply to all structures and property in Latah County." Section 7-1-2(C) additionally adopts ten named appendices to the residential code - A, B, C, D, J, M, H, Q, R and S - none of which is a roofing appendix. The published chapter closes "PASSED by the Board of County Commissioners of Latah County, Idaho, this 24th day of June, 2025", over the names of Commissioners Thomas C. Lamar, Tony Johnson and Jason Stooks. NOTE WHICH PARTS THE COUNTY TOOK. The Idaho residential code set by the State is parts I, II, III and IX of the 2018 International Residential Code; Idaho Code 39-4109(1)(b) leaves parts IV through VIII - energy, mechanical, fuel gas, plumbing and electrical - out of it. Latah County's ordinance adopts parts I through VI. Roofing is in Part III either way, so a reroof is inside the adopted code on both readings. WHAT THE STATE REQUIRES. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03 adopts the "International Residential Code, 2018 Edition ... Parts I, II, III, and IX of the 2018 Edition for one (1)- and two (2)- family dwellings", effective July 1, 2024, with a list of state amendments; Idaho Code 39-4116(2) requires a local government that issues building permits and performs building code enforcement to adopt those codes by ordinance, and bars it from adopting provisions of a later residential code edition the Idaho Building Code Board has not adopted. Idaho Code 39-4116(6): "Permits shall be governed by the laws in effect at the time the permit application is received."

Required — Latah County Code Title 7, Chapter 1, the County's building code chapter and its complete list of amendments to the adopted codes, was read in full and does not touch Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies; the word drip does not appear in it. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own amendment list, does not touch Chapter 9 either. The base 2018 International Residential Code drip-edge requirement for asphalt shingle roofs, Section R905.2.8.5, therefore applies unmodified in Latah County. Confirm the flashing detail and the fastener spacing against the shingle manufacturer's printed instructions as well, which the code makes binding. About drip edge

Required — THE COUNTY ANSWERS THIS ITSELF, IN ITS OWN TABLE, AND THE ANSWER IS COUNTY-WIDE. Latah County Code section 7-1-3(J) completes Table R301.2(1), Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria, of the 2018 International Residential Code for Latah County. Its entry reads "Ice Shield Underlayment Required: Yes". That is not conditioned on elevation, on a map or on a snow zone, unlike the ground snow load in the same table. Because neither the County's amendment list nor the State's touches Chapter 9, the ice barrier provisions of the adopted 2018 International Residential Code apply as written; confirm the required extent up the slope from the eave against that code and against the shingle manufacturer's printed instructions before ordering material. The rest of the County's completed table is set out under wind design criteria. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Latah County. Latah County Code Title 7, Chapter 1, "Building Codes and Regulations", was read in full - all eleven sections and the whole of the amendment list at 7-1-3 and 7-1-4 - and contains no reference to UL 2218, to a Class 4 or Class IV impact rating, or to FM 4473, and no amendment to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies. The Latah County Land Use Regulations were searched for the same four terms and contain none of them either. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own amendment list to the International Residential Code, read in full, contains no such reference. So neither the County's nor the State's adopted code imposes an impact-resistant roof covering requirement. THE COUNTY DOES IMPOSE A ROOF-COVERING RULE, AND IT IS A FIRE RULE, NOT AN IMPACT RULE. Latah County Code section 9-9-2(A), in the Land Use Regulations under the heading "ALL CONSTRUCTION PRIOR TO ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY", reads: "All residential roof coverings shall be made of fire resistive material." Read its heading with it - that section opens "To ensure public safety, all new construction shall meet the following requirements ... prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy for any structure", so it is a condition of occupancy for new construction rather than a rule about recovering an existing roof, and the County sets no test standard or class in the section. Do not read it as an impact requirement: an impact rating is UL 2218, a fire classification is Class A, B or C under ASTM E108 or UL 790, and a wind rating is ASTM D3161 or D7158, and they are three different things. An insurance discount for impact-rated shingles, where a carrier offers one, is a matter between the homeowner and the insurer and is not a code requirement.

LATAH COUNTY SETS NO SIZE, AREA, DOLLAR OR TEAR-OFF-VERSUS-OVERLAY THRESHOLD FOR A REROOF, AND IT PUBLISHES A REROOF APPLICATION AND A REROOF FEE. The County's Windows, Siding, and Roofing Application carries a "Class of Work" line whose options are "Re-Roof", "Siding" and "Windows", asks for the "Number of existing layers" and "Will old material be removed? Yes No", and asks for the brand or manufacturer and the type of material. The County Development Services Fee Schedule, adopted by Resolution 2023-18 and amended by Resolutions 2024-14, 2025-06 and 2025-10, carries a line "Re-Roof $75.00". THE EXEMPTION LIST WAS READ IN FULL AND HAS NO ROOFING ITEM. Latah County Code section 7-1-3(A) amends "Section [A]105.2 of the International Building Code, 2018 edition, Section R105.2 of the International Residential Code, 2018 edition, and Section 105.2 of the International Existing Building Code, 2018 edition", and its whole added exemption list is agricultural buildings under Idaho Code 39-4116(5) and 54-5002(b), freestanding solar collectors not greater than 200 square feet and no higher than 10 feet above grade, commercially available membrane structures for automobiles and recreational vehicles, residential flagpoles, and unlit signs less than 12 square feet. Roofing appears nowhere in it. The same subsection also states that "Exemption from permit requirements of this code shall not be deemed to grant authorization for any work to be done in any manner in violation of the provisions of this code or any other laws or ordinances of this jurisdiction or the State of Idaho." THE COUNTY ANSWERS THE QUESTION DIRECTLY ON ITS OWN FAQ PAGE. Asked "Do I need a building permit? I heard Idaho doesn't require building permits", the County answers: "Building & zoning placement permits are required for all structures in Latah County." Asked whether other Idaho counties do not require permitting, it answers that "Building and zoning permits are required in 99% of Idaho counties and cities." THE ONE THING IN THIS ORDINANCE THAT LOOKS LIKE A REROOF PERMIT EXEMPTION AND IS NOT. Section 7-1-3(B) amends section R105.3, headed "Application for permit". Its item 8 requires "Written verification of septic/sewer approval from the North Central District Health Department, appropriate sewer district, or municipality", and adds: "Exemption: Permits for siding, window replacement, re-roofs, mechanical installations including wood stoves, accessory structures without bedrooms or bathrooms, and signs are exempt from this requirement, provided a 20' setback from the drainfield and septic tank is maintained." Its item 9 requires written verification of approved vehicle access to a public road and adds a matching exemption for "Permits for siding, window replacement, re-roofs, signs outside of the public right-of-way, mechanical installations including wood stoves, additions to existing structures, or accessory structures to existing single-family residences". Both exempt a reroof application from having to attach a document. Neither exempts the reroof from the permit. Read as permit exemptions they would say the opposite of what the County's own reroof application and reroof fee show. THE STATE ADDS NO ROOFING EXEMPTION EITHER, and do not rely on the hundred-square-foot roof repair figure that appears in the Idaho state building code rules. It sits inside the definition of "Minor Alteration", which that rule says "is used for the purpose of administering annual permits" - a blanket permit issued to state agencies for work on buildings they already own or operate. It is not a permit exemption for a homeowner or a roofing contractor anywhere in Idaho.

THE COUNTY PUBLISHES TWO WIND SPEEDS AND PRINTS NO BASIS FOR EITHER, SO NEITHER IS RESTATED HERE IN A BASIS IT DOES NOT CLAIM. Latah County Code section 7-1-3(J) completes Table R301.2(1), Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria, of the 2018 International Residential Code. Its wind row reads, in full: "Wind Speed: 90 mph IRC; IBC 115 mph or design using 1609IBC or Chapter 26-30 ASCE 7". So the County states one figure for work under the residential code and a different one for work under the building code, and offers design under IBC Section 1609 or ASCE 7 Chapters 26 through 30 as an alternative. IT DOES NOT SAY WHETHER EITHER FIGURE IS A FASTEST-MILE, A NOMINAL THREE-SECOND-GUST OR AN ULTIMATE DESIGN SPEED, AND THOSE ARE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENT BASES FOR THE SAME LOADING. A design method, a shingle wind-rating listing or a product approval written for one basis will give the wrong answer if it is fed a number from another. Ask Planning, Building and GIS which basis the County is plan-reviewing to before selecting a wind-rated assembly or an enhanced fastening pattern, and do not convert one figure into the other. THE REST OF THE COUNTY'S COMPLETED TABLE, as printed at 7-1-3(J): "Seismic Design Category: B"; "Subject to Damage from weathering: Severe"; "Subject to damage from frost line depth: Frost Depth 30 inches"; "Subject to damage from termite: Slight to moderate"; "Winter Design Temp: 10 Degrees F"; "Ice Shield Underlayment Required: Yes"; "Air Freezing Index: 1500 or less"; "Mean Annual Temperature: 47.3 Degrees F". Ground and roof snow load is site-specific and is set out under deck sheathing requirements. ONE STATE FACT THAT SITS BESIDE THIS AND IS A WIND FACT. The State of Idaho deletes the model code's wind-borne debris opening-protection section statewide: IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03(d) reads "Section R301.2.1.2 Protection of Openings. Delete." That is an opening provision for windows and doors rather than a roofing one, and under Idaho Code 39-4116(4)(b) a local jurisdiction may not re-adopt a provision the Idaho Building Code Board has expressly rejected.

NEITHER LATAH COUNTY NOR THE STATE OF IDAHO MODIFIES THE MODEL RULE. Latah County Code Title 7, Chapter 1, "Building Codes and Regulations", was read in full - all eleven sections, 7-1-1 through 7-1-11, including the whole of the amendment list at 7-1-3 running from subsection A to subsection P. Those amendments touch sections 105.2, 105.3, 105.5, 107.1, 109 and R108, 113 and R112, IPMC 112.4, R202, Table R301.2(1), R304, IBC 302.1, IBC 312, a new IBC section 313, R403 and R404.1.3, plus separate mechanical and fuel gas amendments at 7-1-4. Not one of them touches Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies; the chapter contains no roofing provision, no recover or overlay rule and no reference to a layer count. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the Idaho Building Code Board's own list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, seventeen items, contains no Chapter 9 amendment either. So the base 2018 International Residential Code recover-versus-replacement rule applies here unmodified. Base-code rule, 2018 IRC Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed: a roof recover is not permitted where the existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that it is not adequate as a base for additional roofing; where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; or where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering. One existing layer may be recovered; a second forces a full tear-off. The County asks the question at the counter: its Windows, Siding, and Roofing Application has a "Number of existing layers" field and a "Will old material be removed? Yes No" field, so expect to answer it on the form. A LOCAL AMENDMENT WOULD BE UNUSUALLY VISIBLE IF ONE EXISTED. Idaho Code 39-4116(4)(d) lets a county amend this part of the residential code only by ordinance, on a recorded finding that "good cause" for building or life safety exists and that the amendment is "reasonably necessary", after a public hearing noticed in the official newspaper with at least thirty days' written notice to the local chapters of the industry bodies listed in Idaho Code 39-4109(5). Latah County has made no such amendment.

NO LOCAL ROOF-DECK RULE. Latah County Code Title 7, Chapter 1, was read in full and its amendment list at 7-1-3 contains no amendment to Chapter 8, Roof-Ceiling Construction, which carries the residential code's roof sheathing provisions, and none to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies. The chapter contains no occurrence of the word sheathing at all. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own amendment list, leaves both chapters alone as well. So the base 2018 International Residential Code roof sheathing and decking requirements apply unmodified, along with the shingle manufacturer's printed installation instructions, which the code makes binding. WHAT DECIDES A DECK IN LATAH COUNTY IS SNOW, AND THERE IS NO SINGLE COUNTY NUMBER. Section 7-1-3(J) fills in the Ground/Roof Snow Load row of Table R301.2(1) as follows: "The ground snow loads, as determined by the study, "Ground and Roof Snow Loads for Idaho", Ronald L. Sack, et al, University Press of Idaho, 1976, shall be used to calculate all roof snow loads. All elevations above 3300 feet shall have an additional 20 pounds of snowload above the base snowload. The Latah County Basic Roof Snow Loads map shall be incorporated into this Ordinance as Section 7-1-10." So the load is site-specific, it steps up above 3,300 feet, and the operative map is the County's own. Establish the ground and roof snow load for the address before designing or re-decking to a number. The County's building permit requirements handout adds that "All trusses are required to be engineered to meet the required snow load."

6.0% -- the Idaho state rate, with no local add-on. Idaho Code 63-3619 imposes the state sales tax "at the rate of six percent (6%)". Idaho has only two kinds of local sales tax, and neither reaches roofing work in Latah County. The first is the resort-city local-option tax, which Idaho Code 50-1044 confines to a resort city "with a population not in excess of ten thousand (10,000)"; the Idaho State Tax Commission publishes the list of cities that levy one, and in any event a county has no such authority. The second is an auditorium-district tax, which the Tax Commission states "can charge a local sales tax only for short-term lodging (30 days or less)" and so never reaches roofing work. Idaho counties levy no sales tax at all. HOW A ROOF IS TAXED, WHICH MATTERS MORE THAN THE RATE: the Tax Commission's contractor guidance states that "Idaho sales tax law says contractors are the consumers (end users) of all the goods they use. As a result, they must pay sales tax on all purchases", and it names roofers among the contractors it covers. The roofer pays the 6% on materials at the supply house; the homeowner's invoice carries no sales tax line at all, on materials or on labour, because "a contractor doesn't charge sales tax to the customer" and the tax is absorbed into the bid. The Commission adds that "if sales tax is charged on the bill, the customer can refuse to pay it." A customer's own sales-tax exemption does not carry over to the contractor. One thing worth checking on a job near the state line: this is the Idaho rate, and Latah County borders Washington, whose sales tax rules for construction are different in kind and are not covered here.