The Roofing Book

Permitting Authorities / City of Milan - Building, Zoning, and Planning

Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Milan, MI?

Adopted code

City of Milan - Building, Zoning, and Planning

Yes, a permit is required to replace a roof in Milan, MI, issued by City of Milan - Building, Zoning, and Planning. A reroof in Milan is permit work under the city's own ordinance: Section 6-14(a) requires a written application and a permit to "construct, enlarge, alter or demolish a structure" and exempts only "minor and ordinary repairs, except as hereafter provided, costing five hundred dollars ($500.00) or less". Section 6-14(c) says "The amount of such fee shall be based upon the projected cost of the project and shall be the fee specified for such permit in the official fee schedule adopted by resolution of the Milan City Council"; the pages this directory could read post no fee schedule, so ask the department for the current fee. Section 6-15 makes architects, contractors, subcontractors and builders responsible "to see that a proper permit has been granted" before they start, with the same municipal civil infraction liability as the owner, and Section 6-18(a) says the holder of every permit must "notify the building department twenty-four (24) hours in advance of the time when such building shall be ready for inspection." The department's page lists building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits among its services, and its permit applications page lists a Contractor Registration form, Homeowner Affidavit, Building Permit - Full and Building Permit - Short, which are online forms this directory could not open. City Hall is at 147 Wabash Street, Milan; the department page lists 734-439-1501.

Roof code checklist: Milan, MI

ItemAnswerCode citeSourceVerified
Permit to replace a roofYeslibrary.municode.com2026-10-11
Repair permit thresholdPublishedlibrary.municode.com2026-10-11
Layer limit / roof-overPublishedR908.3.1.1codes.iccsafe.org2026-10-11
Deck & sheathingPublishedR905.2.1codes.iccsafe.org2026-10-11
Drip edgeYesR905.2.8.5codes.iccsafe.org2026-10-11
Ice & water shieldYesR905.1.2ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us2026-10-11
Mid-roof inspectionNot published
Impact-resistant (Class 4) roofingNoars.apps.lara.state.mi.us2026-10-11
Wind design criteriaNot published
Adopted codePublishedSec. 6-2ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us2026-10-11
Contractor license / registrationYeslegislature.mi.gov2026-10-11
Sales & use taxPublishedlegislature.mi.gov2026-10-11

Each row comes from the sourced record on this page; full wording is in the table below. "Not published" means no official source for that item was found when the record was last verified.

Jurisdiction
City of Milan, Michigan
Jurisdiction type
city
Address
147 Wabash Street, Milan, MI 48160
Contact
  • url: https://www.milanmi.gov/city_hall/departments/building_zoning/index.php
  • phone: 734-439-1501
Roofing permit required
Required
Contractor registration required
Required
Registration details
  • state_level: Michigan licenses residential maintenance and alteration contractors under the Occupational Code, and that licence "includes the following crafts and trades" among which it names roofing (MCL 339.2404(3)); "A person shall not engage in or attempt to engage in the practice of an occupation regulated under this act" without the licence (MCL 339.601(1)). MCL 339.2403 lists who may work without one, including a project whose "aggregate contract price for the labor, material, and any other items for the undertaking or project is less than $600.00". This record does not decide whether a given roofer falls inside an exemption.
  • city_level: The City of Milan requires registration on top of the state licence. Section 6-12.1 of its Code of Ordinances says "Before performing any construction work within the City of Milan, all building contractors required to be licensed by the State of Michigan shall register with the building official. Registration with the building official requires presentation of the contractor's license and payment to the city of an annual registration fee." The fee is the amount in the city's fee schedule adopted by council resolution, which the pages this directory could read do not post. The department's permit applications page lists a Contractor Registration form.
Permit process note
A reroof in Milan is permit work under the city's own ordinance: Section 6-14(a) requires a written application and a permit to "construct, enlarge, alter or demolish a structure" and exempts only "minor and ordinary repairs, except as hereafter provided, costing five hundred dollars ($500.00) or less". Section 6-14(c) says "The amount of such fee shall be based upon the projected cost of the project and shall be the fee specified for such permit in the official fee schedule adopted by resolution of the Milan City Council"; the pages this directory could read post no fee schedule, so ask the department for the current fee. Section 6-15 makes architects, contractors, subcontractors and builders responsible "to see that a proper permit has been granted" before they start, with the same municipal civil infraction liability as the owner, and Section 6-18(a) says the holder of every permit must "notify the building department twenty-four (24) hours in advance of the time when such building shall be ready for inspection." The department's page lists building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits among its services, and its permit applications page lists a Contractor Registration form, Homeowner Affidavit, Building Permit - Full and Building Permit - Short, which are online forms this directory could not open. City Hall is at 147 Wabash Street, Milan; the department page lists 734-439-1501.
Adopted code
2015 Michigan Residential Code. This is state law and it is the same in every Michigan city, village, township and county: the state construction code act says "This act and the code apply throughout the state," and the Michigan Residential Code rule adopts "the international residential code, 2015 edition" with the state amendments in R 408.30500 to R 408.30547g. A 2021 edition was filed with the secretary of state in 2025 but has not taken effect. On July 7, 2025 the Michigan Court of Claims entered a stipulated order in Home Builders Assoc et al. v LARA et al., and the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) says that while that order remains in place "the 2015 versions of the IRC and residential provisions of the IECC standards currently adopted, in part, by each rule set will remain valid and in effect." LARA's Statewide Jurisdiction List shows the City of Milan as a local enforcing agency. Section 6-2 of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances designates "the building inspector of the City of Milan" as the enforcing agency under the state act, and Section 6-12(a) designates "the building official of the city". Milan's codified Sec. 6-12 (Ord. of 4-24-67, as amended through Ord. No. 96-8, 12-9-96) makes part of its building code article "the building code adopted by the Construction Code Commission, Michigan Department of Labor, effective May 5, 1995, and corresponding sections of all Michigan Building Codes hereafter adopted", which names no residential code edition; that text was not read, and this record states the 2015 Michigan Residential Code for the reasons above. Its Property Maintenance Code, Section 6-71, is the 2021 edition of the International Property Maintenance Code.
Drip edge
Required — Required on asphalt shingle roofs by state law. Michigan makes no amendment to the drip edge rule of the 2015 International Residential Code, Section R905.2.8.5, which applies as published: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs." Segments overlap by at least 2 inches, the drip edge extends at least 1/4 inch below the roof sheathing and at least 2 inches back onto the deck, it is fastened at no more than 12 inches on center, and underlayment goes over it at the eaves and under it at the rakes. A reroof is held to the same rule, because "Materials and methods of application used for re-covering or replacing an existing roof covering shall comply with the requirements of Chapter 9" (R908.1). The City of Milan's Building, Zoning, and Planning page and Chapter 6 (Buildings and Building Regulations) of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances, read in full, state nothing further on drip edge. About drip edge
Ice & water shield
Required — Required everywhere in Michigan by state law. Michigan fills in the climatic design table of the 2015 code once for the whole state (Rule 516, Table R301.2(1)), and its ice barrier underlayment column reads Yes. The state footnote calls for Yes "for areas where the average daily temperature in January is 25 degrees Fahrenheit" or less, or where ice damming has caused damage. The base code then requires an ice barrier "for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes," running "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" (R905.1.2). Detached accessory structures without conditioned floor area are exempt. On a tear-off, an existing ice barrier that is adhered to the deck may stay and be covered with an additional layer (R908.3, Exception). The City of Milan's Building, Zoning, and Planning page and Chapter 6 (Buildings and Building Regulations) of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances, read in full, state nothing further on ice barrier. About ice & water barrier
Impact-resistant roofing
Not required — No impact-resistance requirement under state law. The 2015 Michigan Residential Code was searched in full and has no hail or impact rating rule for roof coverings: the words hail, impact and UL 2218 do not appear in it, and none of them appears in the roof assemblies chapter of the base 2015 International Residential Code either. Michigan applies one code statewide ("This act and the code apply throughout the state."), and the act gives the power to amend it to the state director, who adopts the model codes "with amendments, additions, or deletions as the director determines appropriate." The City of Milan's Building, Zoning, and Planning page and Chapter 6 of its Code of Ordinances, read in full, state no impact rule.
Repair permit threshold
Milan's codified building article exempts only small repairs, and it caps them by cost. Section 6-14(a) of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances makes it a municipal civil infraction to "construct, enlarge, alter or demolish a structure" without a written application and a permit, "provided, however, that minor and ordinary repairs, except as hereafter provided, costing five hundred dollars ($500.00) or less, and which do not involve any violation of such codes, shall be exempt from this provision." A full reroof costs far more than $500, so it falls outside the exemption. The ordinance does not mention roofing, and the Building, Zoning, and Planning page says nothing about roof work. The state construction code act also says "A building permit is not required for ordinary repairs of a building or structure," without defining ordinary repairs. For a small repair, ask the department at 734-439-1501 before starting.
Roof layer limit / recover
Two layers at most, under state law. Michigan builds one- and two-family homes to the 2015 Michigan Residential Code, which adopts the 2015 International Residential Code and makes no amendment to its reroofing section, Section R908; the Michigan rule set was searched in full and R908 does not appear in it. The base section therefore applies as the International Code Council publishes it. Section R908.3.1.1 lists the conditions under which a new roof may not be laid over an existing one, and the third is "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be covered once; a roof that already carries two layers is torn off to the deck. The same section also bars covering a roof that is water soaked or too deteriorated to serve as a base, and covering "slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile." Locally, Chapter 6 of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances (Buildings and Building Regulations), all of its articles, was read in full: it designates the enforcing agency, makes part of the city's building article the building code adopted by the Construction Code Commission in 1995 with a few modifications to its administrative sections (102.2, 104.2, 112.1, 116.4 and 117.2), sets permit and inspection rules, adopts a property maintenance code, an energy code and electrical, plumbing and mechanical provisions, and sets up a board of appeals; it has no reroofing provision and amends nothing in Section R908. The Building, Zoning, and Planning page states no layer rule.
Deck & sheathing requirements
State law, from the base code. Michigan makes no amendment to the roof sheathing section of the 2015 International Residential Code, Section R803, which does not appear in the Michigan rule set, so it applies as published. Lumber roof sheathing follows Table R803.1: over rafters or beams 24 inches apart it must be at least 5/8 inch net thick. Wood structural panels must be identified "for grade, bond classification and performance category by a grade mark or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency," and their spans may not exceed "the values set forth in Table R503.2.1.1(1), or APA E30." For a shingle roof the base code adds that "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks" (R905.2.1), and on any reroof "The structural roof components shall be capable of supporting the roof covering system" (R908.2). The City of Milan's Building, Zoning, and Planning page and Chapter 6 (Buildings and Building Regulations) of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances, read in full, state nothing further on roof sheathing.
Sales & use tax
6%, statewide, with no local add-on. This is state law: the General Sales Tax Act sets the tax "equal to 6% of the gross proceeds of the business," the Use Tax Act sets "a total combined rate equal to 6%," and the Michigan Department of Treasury says "Michigan does not allow city or local units to impose sales tax." On a roofing job the roofer is the taxpayer on materials, because the Use Tax Act counts as a consumer "A person acquiring tangible personal property if engaged in the business of constructing, altering, repairing, or improving the real estate of others." Nothing in the City of Milan's Building, Zoning, and Planning page or its Code of Ordinances changes this.

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The City of Milan's Building, Zoning, and Planning department, at City Hall, 147 Wabash Street in Milan, administers and enforces the Michigan building codes and the city zoning ordinance and issues building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits. Section 6-2 of the city's Code of Ordinances designates the city's building inspector as the enforcing agency under the state construction code act, and the State of Michigan's jurisdiction list names the City of Milan as its own building code enforcer. Michigan applies one residential code statewide, and for houses that is the 2015 Michigan Residential Code.

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Sources

Roofing questions: Milan, MI

Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Milan, MI?

Yes, a permit is required to replace a roof in Milan, MI. Milan's codified building article exempts only small repairs, and it caps them by cost. Section 6-14(a) of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances makes it a municipal civil infraction to "construct, enlarge, alter or demolish a structure" without a written application and a permit, "provided, however, that minor and ordinary repairs, except as hereafter provided, costing five hundred dollars ($500.00) or less, and which do not involve any violation of such codes, shall be exempt from this provision." A full reroof costs far more than $500, so it falls outside the exemption. The ordinance does not mention roofing, and the Building, Zoning, and Planning page says nothing about roof work. The state construction code act also says "A building permit is not required for ordinary repairs of a building or structure," without defining ordinary repairs. For a small repair, ask the department at 734-439-1501 before starting.

Is ice & water shield required in Milan, MI?

Yes. Required everywhere in Michigan by state law. Michigan fills in the climatic design table of the 2015 code once for the whole state (Rule 516, Table R301.2(1)), and its ice barrier underlayment column reads Yes. The state footnote calls for Yes "for areas where the average daily temperature in January is 25 degrees Fahrenheit" or less, or where ice damming has caused damage. The base code then requires an ice barrier "for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes," running "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" (R905.1.2). Detached accessory structures without conditioned floor area are exempt. On a tear-off, an existing ice barrier that is adhered to the deck may stay and be covered with an additional layer (R908.3, Exception). The City of Milan's Building, Zoning, and Planning page and Chapter 6 (Buildings and Building Regulations) of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances, read in full, state nothing further on ice barrier.

Is drip edge required in Milan, MI?

Yes. Required on asphalt shingle roofs by state law. Michigan makes no amendment to the drip edge rule of the 2015 International Residential Code, Section R905.2.8.5, which applies as published: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs." Segments overlap by at least 2 inches, the drip edge extends at least 1/4 inch below the roof sheathing and at least 2 inches back onto the deck, it is fastened at no more than 12 inches on center, and underlayment goes over it at the eaves and under it at the rakes. A reroof is held to the same rule, because "Materials and methods of application used for re-covering or replacing an existing roof covering shall comply with the requirements of Chapter 9" (R908.1). The City of Milan's Building, Zoning, and Planning page and Chapter 6 (Buildings and Building Regulations) of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances, read in full, state nothing further on drip edge.

Can you roof over an existing roof in Milan, MI?

Two layers at most, under state law. Michigan builds one- and two-family homes to the 2015 Michigan Residential Code, which adopts the 2015 International Residential Code and makes no amendment to its reroofing section, Section R908; the Michigan rule set was searched in full and R908 does not appear in it. The base section therefore applies as the International Code Council publishes it. Section R908.3.1.1 lists the conditions under which a new roof may not be laid over an existing one, and the third is "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be covered once; a roof that already carries two layers is torn off to the deck. The same section also bars covering a roof that is water soaked or too deteriorated to serve as a base, and covering "slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile." Locally, Chapter 6 of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances (Buildings and Building Regulations), all of its articles, was read in full: it designates the enforcing agency, makes part of the city's building article the building code adopted by the Construction Code Commission in 1995 with a few modifications to its administrative sections (102.2, 104.2, 112.1, 116.4 and 117.2), sets permit and inspection rules, adopts a property maintenance code, an energy code and electrical, plumbing and mechanical provisions, and sets up a board of appeals; it has no reroofing provision and amends nothing in Section R908. The Building, Zoning, and Planning page states no layer rule.

Do roofing contractors need a license or registration in Milan, MI?

Yes.

What building code does Milan, MI use?

2015 Michigan Residential Code. This is state law and it is the same in every Michigan city, village, township and county: the state construction code act says "This act and the code apply throughout the state," and the Michigan Residential Code rule adopts "the international residential code, 2015 edition" with the state amendments in R 408.30500 to R 408.30547g. A 2021 edition was filed with the secretary of state in 2025 but has not taken effect. On July 7, 2025 the Michigan Court of Claims entered a stipulated order in Home Builders Assoc et al. v LARA et al., and the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) says that while that order remains in place "the 2015 versions of the IRC and residential provisions of the IECC standards currently adopted, in part, by each rule set will remain valid and in effect." LARA's Statewide Jurisdiction List shows the City of Milan as a local enforcing agency. Section 6-2 of the City of Milan Code of Ordinances designates "the building inspector of the City of Milan" as the enforcing agency under the state act, and Section 6-12(a) designates "the building official of the city". Milan's codified Sec. 6-12 (Ord. of 4-24-67, as amended through Ord. No. 96-8, 12-9-96) makes part of its building code article "the building code adopted by the Construction Code Commission, Michigan Department of Labor, effective May 5, 1995, and corresponding sections of all Michigan Building Codes hereafter adopted", which names no residential code edition; that text was not read, and this record states the 2015 Michigan Residential Code for the reasons above. Its Property Maintenance Code, Section 6-71, is the 2021 edition of the International Property Maintenance Code.