City of Madison, Wisconsin - Department of Planning, Community & Economic Development, Building Inspection Division

City of Madison, Wisconsin

city

215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Suite 017 (Madison Municipal Building), Madison, WI 53703

Required

Required

Madison's Building Inspection Division (Department of Planning, Community & Economic Development) issues roofing permits through the Development Services Center. The city's Storm Damage guidance directs owners that a building permit is required for replacing roofing, siding and windows, that no permit is needed for small repairs under $500 in estimated value, and that permits matter for keeping accurate records for insurance and resale; it also states that contractors must be licensed with the State of Wisconsin to work on 1- and 2-family homes. Owner-occupants of one- or two-family homes may apply online where the work does not require plan review. Building Inspection is reachable at (608) 266-4551 ext. 1. Note that Wis. Stat. s. 101.65(3) requires Madison to use the standard building permit form prescribed by DSPS, and s. 101.65(4) requires it to file a copy of each issued permit electronically with DSPS not later than the 15th day of the first month after issuance.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Wisconsin's residential building code is not a straight IRC adoption: it is the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code (UDC), Wis. Admin. Code ch. SPS 321, promulgated by the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) under Wis. Stat. ch. 101, subch. II. SPS 321.01 (Scope) provides: "The provisions of this chapter shall apply to the design and construction of all one- and 2-family dwellings." The roof-coverings section, SPS 321.28 (Weather Protection for Roofs), was most recently amended by CR 15-041, effective 1/1/2016. Madison cannot adopt a different technical code for dwellings: Wis. Stat. s. 101.65(1)(a) permits a municipality to exercise jurisdiction over construction and inspection of new dwellings only "[s]ubject to sub. (1c)," and s. 101.65(1c) provides that a municipality "May not make or enforce an ordinance under sub. (1) that is applied to a dwelling and that does not conform to this subchapter and the uniform dwelling code adopted by the department under this subchapter or is contrary to an order of the department under this subchapter." That is a conformity (match/non-match) test with no "may be more restrictive" carve-out, so Wisconsin is a true statewide preemption model rather than the IRC-plus-local-amendment pattern. What Madison retains under s. 101.65 is administration only: jurisdiction over construction and inspection of new dwellings (1)(a), fees to defray that cost (1)(c), remedies and penalties (1)(d), the contractor-certificate check at permit issuance (1m), the owner-liability disclosure statement (1r), use of the state permit form (3), and electronic filing of issued permits with DSPS (4). NOTE: ch. SPS 321 governs one- and two-family dwellings only; commercial and 3+ unit multifamily buildings in Madison fall under the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code, SPS 361-366 (IBC-based), which is not the subject of this record.

Not required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Wisconsin's Uniform Dwelling Code, unlike the IRC (R905.2.8.5), contains no general requirement for drip edge at roof eaves or rakes. Wis. Admin. Code s. SPS 321.28 ("Weather protection for roofs"), subsections (1) through (7) - drainage and fasteners, underlayment, asphalt shingle installation, ice dam protection, other roof coverings, reroofing, and flashing - impose no roof-edge drip edge. The catch-all, s. SPS 321.28(5), reads: "Other roof coverings. All roof coverings not otherwise addressed in this section shall be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions or a national standard recognized by the department." The only two "drip edge" references anywhere in ch. SPS 321 are s. SPS 321.30(8) on chimney caps ("Chimney caps shall have a minimum thickness of 2 inches, shall slope outwards away from the flue, and shall provide a one-inch overhang and drip edge on all sides") and a deck ledger-board flashing detail in ch. SPS 325 Appendix B - neither is a roof-edge requirement. Madison cannot add one by ordinance for a one- or two-family dwelling (Wis. Stat. s. 101.65(1c)). Practical note: drip edge may still be required in Madison as a matter of the shingle manufacturer's installation instructions, which SPS 321.28(3)(a) makes mandatory for asphalt shingles.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, AND SLOPE-CONDITIONED - read the scope carefully, it is narrower than the IRC/Minnesota rule. Wis. Admin. Code s. SPS 321.28(4)(a) requires that shingled or shake roofs that extend over a heated area of a dwelling or attached garage AND that have a slope of 4:12 or less be provided with ice dam protection, in the form of sheet metal or a product labeled as meeting the requirements of ASTM D1970. SPS 321.28(4)(b) sets the extent: the ice dam protection "shall extend at least 30 inches up the roof slope from the roof edge and at least 12 inches up the roof slope beyond the inner face of the exterior wall." Two cautions for Madison work: (1) on roof areas steeper than 4:12, the Uniform Dwelling Code does not itself impose an ice-barrier requirement, so a steep-slope reroof may be code-compliant without one (shingle manufacturers' own installation instructions may still require it, and SPS 321.28(3)(a) requires asphalt shingles to be installed per the manufacturer's instructions); (2) Wisconsin's "30 inches up the slope from the roof edge and 12 inches beyond the inner face of the exterior wall" is a different measurement convention from the IRC's "24 inches inside the exterior wall line" - do not substitute IRC ice-barrier language on a Wisconsin job.

Not required — CITY-SPECIFIC administrative practice (permit administration and inspection are the parts of the field Wis. Stat. s. 101.65(1)(a), (1)(c) leave to municipalities and s. 101.65(1c) does not preempt). The Development Services Center's published list of building-permit inspection stages for 1- and 2-family residential work names only Footing, Foundation, Under Slab Insulation and Vapor Barrier, Rough Framing, Insulation, and Final; it names no roof-sheathing, roof-deck, or other mid-roof inspection stage. A roofing job pulled under Madison's building permit is therefore inspected at the Final stage rather than at an interim point during the reroof.

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Madison. Wis. Admin. Code s. SPS 321.28 ("Weather Protection for Roofs"), the UDC's roof-coverings section, contains no UL 2218 reference, no "Class 4 impact" reference, and no hail- or impact-rating requirement anywhere in subsections (1) through (7); its catch-all, s. SPS 321.28(5), reads "All roof coverings not otherwise addressed in this section shall be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions or a national standard recognized by the department," which sets no impact class. Madison cannot add such a requirement for a one- or two-family dwelling (Wis. Stat. s. 101.65(1c)). Impact-resistant shingles remain a voluntary, insurer-driven upgrade in this market rather than a code obligation. (Note that any ASTM E108 / UL 790 "Class A/B/C" designation encountered on a Wisconsin job is a FIRE rating and is not evidence of an impact requirement.)

CITY-SPECIFIC (permit administration is not preempted by the Uniform Dwelling Code; Wis. Stat. s. 101.65(1)(a) and (1)(c) leave permitting and fees to the municipality). The City of Madison Building Inspection Division's Storm Damage guidance states that a building permit is required for replacing roofing, siding and windows, and that a permit is not required for small repairs of less than $500 in estimated value. Madison's threshold is therefore a dollar-value test on the repair, not a square-footage test - a different convention from the "one bundle / 33 1/3 square feet" style threshold used by some other jurisdictions. Madison Building Inspection can be reached at (608) 266-4551 ext. 1 to confirm scope for a specific project.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and expressed as prescriptive pressures rather than an IRC-style design wind speed. Wis. Admin. Code s. SPS 321.02(1)(c) requires dwellings to be designed to withstand either a horizontal and uplift pressure of 20 pounds per square foot acting over the surface area, or the wind loads determined in accordance with ASCE 7-05, Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures. Fastening is governed by s. SPS 321.02(3)(h): "All building components shall be fastened to withstand the dead load, live load, snow load, and wind load," per the Table 321.02-2 fastener schedule, with engineered alternative fastening permitted. Snow load is the one geographically-varying input: s. SPS 321.02(1)(b)2. provides that "Roofs shall be designed and constructed to support the minimum snow loads listed on the zone map" at Figure 321.02, a statewide two-zone map, so Madison's design snow load is read off that figure rather than stated as a single statewide number. IMPORTANT: because Wisconsin uses a psf-and-zone-map system, there is no IRC-style "ultimate design wind speed in mph" for Madison - do not translate the 20 psf figure into an mph value.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET (Wis. Stat. s. 101.65(1c) bars Madison from a differing dwelling ordinance). Wis. Admin. Code s. SPS 321.28(6) governs reroofing of one- and two-family dwellings: new roof coverings may not be installed over an existing roof covering where any of the following conditions exist - (a) the existing roof or roof covering is water-soaked or has deteriorated such that it is inadequate as a base for additional roofing; (b) the existing roof is wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; or (c) the existing roof has 2 or more applications of any type of permanent roof covering. Practical effect: at most one recover (overlay) over one existing layer is permitted, so a roof already carrying two layers must be torn off completely; wood shake, slate, clay, cement and asbestos-cement tile may never be recovered regardless of layer count.

STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET. Wis. Admin. Code s. SPS 321.27(9) ("Roof Sheathing, Boards and Planking") sets the deck standard for one- and two-family dwellings: (9)(a) structural sheathing - "The allowable loads and spans for structural sheathing shall be in accordance with the grade stamp on the panel"; (9)(b)1. where rafter spacing is 24 inches on center or less, "roof boards may be used that have a minimum thickness of 5/8-inch for solid sheathing and 3/4-inch for spaced sheathing"; (9)(b)2. where rafter spacing exceeds 24 inches on center, "roof boards shall be tongue and groove, at least 1.5 inches thick"; (9)(c) roof planks, as an alternative, shall be tongue-and-groove or splined and "at least 2 inches, nominal, in thickness," shall "terminate over beams unless the joints are end matched," shall be "laid so that no continuous line of joints will occur except at points of support," and "shall be nailed or fastened to each beam." Note that Wisconsin's UDC expresses this as a board-thickness and span rule keyed to the panel grade stamp, rather than the IRC's "solidly sheathed decks or 1-inch nominal wood boards" formulation used in IRC-adopting states.

Madison's combined general sales and use tax rate is 5.5%: the Wisconsin state sales and use tax of 5.0% plus the Dane County 0.5% county sales and use tax. The City of Madison itself imposes no municipal sales tax and is not in a premier resort area, so there is no city-level add-on; 5.5% is the rate a roofing contractor pays on materials purchased in Madison. (Wisconsin's only municipal-level general sales tax is Milwaukee's, which does not apply here.)