City of Mentor, Ohio - Engineering and Building Department

City of Mentor, Lake County, Ohio

city

Mentor, OH

Required

Residential Code of Ohio, Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 4101:8, effective July 1, 2019. Ohio adopts its residential code as a statewide administrative rule rather than leaving the edition to each municipality: the Ohio Board of Building Standards promulgates it under Ohio Revised Code section 3781.10 and it governs one, two and three family dwellings throughout the state, Mentor included. Roof assemblies are Chapter 4101:8-9-01, and its section numbers carry no "R" prefix, so the reroofing rule is section 908. Ohio law does permit a city to add to the state code where the addition does not conflict: Ohio Revised Code section 3781.01(B) provides that the state residential building code "does not prevent a local governing authority from adopting additional regulations governing residential structures that do not conflict with the state residential building code," subject to a Board of Building Standards conflict review. No Mentor amendment touching roofing was found among the City's published permit materials, and none is asserted either way here.

Not required — Ohio does not prescribe a drip edge, which is a real departure from the model code the rest of the state code follows. The International Residential Code sets a drip edge requirement at R905.2.8.5 with dimensions, an overlap and a fastening schedule. Ohio replaced that text entirely, and the whole of Residential Code of Ohio section 905.2.8.5 now reads: "Drip edge. Refer to Sections 903.1 and 905.1." Neither of those sections carries drip edge language of its own; what they do is make the manufacturer's instructions binding. Section 903.1 requires roof assemblies to "be designed and installed in accordance with this code and the approved manufacturer's instructions," and section 905.1 that "Roof coverings shall be applied in accordance with the applicable provisions of this section and the manufacturer's installation instructions." So the state code imposes no drip edge of its own, while the shingle manufacturer's published installation instructions do carry code force, and most asphalt shingle instructions require one. Omitting a drip edge against those instructions remains a violation in Ohio, by way of 903.1 and 905.1 rather than by way of a drip edge section. About drip edge

Required — Required, and required across the whole state rather than in a mapped zone, which matters on a Lake Erie snowbelt site. Residential Code of Ohio section 905.1.2 conditions the ice barrier on a local history of ice damming "as designated in Table 301.2(1)", and Ohio's own Table 301.2(1) makes that designation statewide: the ICE BARRIER UNDERLAYMENT REQUIRED column reads "Yes", and note h to the table states that "all jurisdictions in Ohio have a history of local damage from the effects of ice damming." There is therefore no per-city determination to look up. The 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," measured along the slope from where the projected outside face of the wall meets the deck. On roofs of 8:12 or steeper it "shall also be applied not less than 36 inches (914 mm) measured along the roof slope from the eave edge." One exception travels with it: "Detached accessory structures and roof assemblies terminating at a vertical wall over unconditioned floor areas." About ice & water barrier

Not required

NOT PUBLISHED FOR ROOFING, and worth one call before bidding rather than an assumption in either direction. What the City does say, on its Permits page, is broad: "A Building Permit Application is required for all construction including decks, pools, siding, sheds, porches, enclosures, etc." Roofing is not among the examples listed, and neither the Permits page nor the City of Mentor Building Permit Application itself names roofing or reroofing as a work type; the only occurrence of the word on the application is a request for "Building Height (from finished grade to roof line)." That silence is not the same as an exemption, and it is not the same as a requirement either. It matters because Ohio municipalities split both ways on this exact question, and a nearby example shows how far: Cleveland Heights requires a permit for siding without qualification while carving roofing out unless structural work is involved. So an enumeration that names siding and omits roofing cannot safely be read as covering it. Contact the Engineering and Building Department before starting. Two things the City does publish that apply once a permit is in play: plan review "takes 7-10 working days on average," and a permit fee is charged "along with a refundable construction deposit, which can be returned if the structure passes all inspections." Permits can be applied and paid for online through the Mentor Gateway.

115 mph ultimate design wind speed, set statewide. Ohio fills in the wind column of Table 301.2(1) of the Residential Code of Ohio once for the whole state rather than leaving it to each jurisdiction, and the WIND DESIGN Speed (mph) entry is 115. Exposure category is not fixed by the table and deserves attention on an exposed lakefront site; note d directs that "Wind exposure category shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with Section 301.2.1.4." Ohio has struck three of the model table's wind entries outright, recorded in notes k, l and m: topographic wind speed-up effects, unusual wind conditions and wind-borne debris zones are all deleted, so no wind-borne debris protection applies in Ohio. For the shingles themselves, section 905.2.4 sets wind resistance by ASTM D7158, with an exception that "Asphalt shingles not included in the scope of ASTM D7158 shall be tested and labeled in accordance with ASTM D3161." Both are wind standards; neither speaks to impact.

Two total layers. The default is a full tear off and a recover over one existing layer is the exception; a recover over two or more layers is not allowed. Residential Code of Ohio section 908.3, Roof replacement: "Roof replacement shall include the removal of existing layers of roof coverings down to the roof deck," with an exception permitting an existing ice barrier membrane adhered to the deck to stay and be covered with an additional layer of ice barrier membrane. Section 908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed, sets the bar: "A roof recover shall not be permitted where any of the following conditions occur: 1. Where the existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that the existing roof or roof covering is not adequate as a base for additional roofing. 2. Where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile. 3. Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." Ohio's rule has three conditions and none is a hail exposure condition, so unlike the older model code editions still in force in some states there is no case here in which a single existing layer must come off on hail grounds alone. Under section 908.5 aggregate surfacing "shall not be reinstalled."

Solid sheathing is required under asphalt shingles. Residential Code of Ohio section 905.2.1, Sheathing requirements: "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks." Ohio states this without the plank-width alternative some states write in, so spaced or skip sheathing will not carry an asphalt shingle roof here. Section 908.2 additionally requires that the structural roof components "be capable of supporting the roof covering system and the material and equipment loads that will be encountered during installation," and section 908.3.1.1 bars a recover over a deck that will not serve as a base, which is the provision that catches deteriorated sheathing found once the old covering is off.

7.25% combined, which is the Ohio state rate of 5.75% plus a Lake County rate of 1.50%. Ohio levies its local sales tax at the county level and has no separate municipal add-on, so the same 7.25% applies throughout Lake County and there is no Mentor city component to add. Read from the Ohio Department of Taxation's own Sales and Use Tax Rates by County table, county code 43. That published table is the one effective October 1, 2026, and it marks a changed county with an asterisk against the county name; Lake carries no asterisk and Warren is the only Ohio county that changes on that date, so 7.25% is also the rate in force now.