Minidoka County - Building Department

Minidoka County, Idaho

county

715 G Street, Rupert, ID 83350

Required

Required

A REROOF PERMIT HERE IS A FAST PERMIT, AND THE COUNTY SAYS SO. Asked "How long does it take to issue a permit?", the County answers: "New construction requiring a plan review may take up to 2 weeks depending on the type and complexity of the project you are working on. Projects similar to re-roofing, re-siding, and sign permits may be issued in 1 to 4 days depending on the complexity and completion of the submittals." The Roof & Siding packet gives the department's own plan-review goal as "3-5 business days", "subject to change without notice". WHAT THE ROOF & SIDING APPLICATION ASKS FOR. The form has a "Please Check One" for residential or commercial and a "Check All That Apply" for "Overlay", with a "# of Existing Layers" field, and "Tear-off". It asks for roofing in SQUARES and siding in LINEAR FT, for the project valuation, for the existing material and the new material, for the zoning district, and for whether any work has been started. It carries a contractor block with a licence number and expiration field, which is where the Idaho contractor registration goes. HOW THE FEE IS SET. The packet states that "Project Value is used to calculate fees for the building permit. Project Value is the total value of the construction work for which the permit is issued, including overhead and profit as well as finish work, painting, roofing, electrical, plumbing, heating/air conditioning, elevators, fire extinguishing systems, other permanent equipment, and owner supplied items. Project value excludes land." So the number on the application drives the fee; the County publishes no flat reroof fee. SCHEDULING AND EXPIRY. The County asks that "An appointment for an inspection should be made no less than a half working day in advance", spelling it out: a morning inspection must be booked no later than the afternoon before, an afternoon inspection no later than that morning; call 208-436-7183. On expiry the County states that "Every permit issued shall become invalid unless the work authorized by such permit is commenced within 180 days after its issuance, or if the work authorized by such permit is suspended or abandoned for a period of 180 days after the time the work is commenced", with written extensions of up to 180 days each available on justifiable cause. OTHER COUNTERS THE PACKET NAMES. Electrical and plumbing permits go to the Idaho Division of Building Safety, (800) 955-3044; the packet also lists South Central Health District, the Minidoka Highway District, the Minidoka Irrigation District and the A&B Irrigation District, three fire departments, and separate zoning contacts for the cities of Paul, Rupert, Acequia and Minidoka. Whether the County or the city issues the building permit for an address inside one of those cities was not established here; ask before filing. CONTACT. Minidoka County Building Department, 715 G Street, PO Box 368, Rupert, Idaho 83350; phone 208-436-7183, fax 208-436-1580; Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; [email protected]. Building Official and Zoning Administrator Rick Nay.

THE 2018 EDITIONS, STATED FIRST-PARTY IN TWO PLACES. The County's own Roof & Siding Permit Packet, published by the Minidoka County Building Department, carries a block headed "CURRENT CODES:" reading "2018 International Building Code (IBC)" and "2018 International Residential Code (IRC)". The County's Adopted Building Codes page lists the wider suite and states that the codes take effect January 1, 2021: the 2018 International Building Code, the 2018 International (Idaho) Residential Code, the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code, the 2018 International Existing Building Code and the 2018 International Mechanical Code. The County's Building and Zoning page carries the same list and adds the 2018 Fuel Gas Code. THE ADOPTING ORDINANCE ITSELF COULD NOT BE READ, AND THAT IS STATED RATHER THAN GLOSSED. The Minidoka County Code is published by a commercial codifier whose site refuses automated access, and the County's older link to a different codifier no longer resolves at all. So the County's adoption is established from the Building Department's own published statements rather than from the enacted ordinance, and the ordinance number and date are not stated here because they were not read. Ask the Building Department for the adopting ordinance if a fine point of local amendment matters to your job. WHAT STATE LAW 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 a later residential code edition the Idaho Building Code Board has not adopted. Roofing sits in Part III and is inside the Idaho residential code. Idaho Code 39-4116(6): "Permits shall be governed by the laws in effect at the time the permit application is received."

Not required — THE COUNTY ANSWERS THIS ITSELF, AND THE ANSWER IS NO. The Minidoka County Building Department's Roof & Siding Permit Packet prints a design-criteria table with a row for RESIDENTIAL work. Its column headed ICE BARRIER UNDERLAYMENT REQUIRED carries the entry NO. That is the County's own filled-in climatic and geographic design criteria, published in the packet a roofer files a reroof under, so it is a direct answer rather than an inference from climate. READ IT WITH THE REST OF THE ROW, WHICH IS SET OUT UNDER WIND DESIGN CRITERIA, AND DO NOT OVER-READ IT. It means the County does not require an ice barrier underlayment by code. It does not mean ice damming never happens on a Minidoka County roof, and it does not override a shingle manufacturer's printed instructions, which the code makes binding and which may call for an eave protection membrane as a condition of the warranty. If the manufacturer's instructions require one, install it. WHAT COULD NOT BE CHECKED. The County's own adopting ordinance and any local amendment list are published only through a commercial codifier that refuses automated access, so this rests on the Building Department's own published design criteria rather than on a codified table. About ice & water barrier

Required — A TEAR-OFF IN MINIDOKA COUNTY IS INSPECTED BEFORE THE NEW COVERING GOES ON, AND IT IS PRINTED ON THE ROOFING PERMIT PACKET ITSELF. Immediately after reproducing the recovering-versus-replacement rule, the County's Roof & Siding Permit Packet states, in bold: "If existing roof or roof covering is to be removed, an inspection of the existing substrate will be required before applying a new roof or roof covering." WHAT THAT MEANS FOR THE SCHEDULE. On a tear-off, the deck has to be looked at by the County between strip and dry-in, so a one-pass strip-and-shingle day is not available unless the inspection has been booked to fit. The County asks that an inspection appointment "should be made no less than a half working day in advance" - a morning inspection booked no later than the afternoon before, an afternoon inspection no later than that morning - on 208-436-7183. The requirement is conditional on removal: it is written for the case where the existing covering comes off, so a permitted recover over one existing layer is not described as triggering it.

MINIDOKA COUNTY NAMES REROOFING IN THE PERMIT TRIGGER ITSELF, WHICH VERY FEW JURISDICTIONS DO. The County's Building Permits Requirements page, and its frequently asked questions in the same words, state: "Any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, reroof, reside, or change the occupancy of a building or structure; or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical, or plumbing system needs a building permit." There is no size, area, dollar or tear-off-versus-overlay threshold attached to it, and the County publishes a Roof & Siding permit application to file under. THE EXEMPTION LIST, READ IN FULL, AND IT HAS NO ROOFING ITEM. Under the heading "Permit Not Required", the same page lists thirteen items: one-story detached accessory structures used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses and similar uses, not exceeding 200 square feet for one- or two-family dwellings and not greater than 120 square feet for non-residential or commercial; fences not over 6 feet high; retaining walls not over 4 feet measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge or impounding Class I, II or IIIA liquids; water tanks supported directly on grade not greater than 5,000 gallons with a height-to-diameter or width ratio not greater than 2 to 1; sidewalks and driveways not more than 30 inches above adjacent grade, not over any basement or story below and not part of an accessible route; "Painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, counter tops and similar finish work"; temporary motion picture, television and theater stage sets and scenery; prefabricated swimming pools accessory to a Group R-3 occupancy that are less than 24 inches deep, not greater than 5,000 gallons and installed entirely above ground; shade cloth structures for nursery or agricultural purposes, not including service systems; swings and other playground equipment accessory to detached one- and two-family dwellings; window awnings in Group R-3 and U occupancies supported by an exterior wall that do not project more than 54 inches and need no additional support; and non-fixed and movable fixtures, cases, racks, counters and partitions not over 5 feet 9 inches in height. Roofing appears nowhere in it. Note the County's fence figure is 6 feet, not the 7 feet several other Idaho jurisdictions use. AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS ARE SEPARATE. The County states that "The Minidoka County Zoning Ordinance exempts agricultural buildings from the requirements of a full building permit" where the building and the parcel meet the definition and criteria in that ordinance, and it publishes an Agricultural Exemptions page and application. 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 A FULL RESIDENTIAL DESIGN-CRITERIA ROW IN THE ROOFING PACKET, AND IT PRINTS NO WIND BASIS. The Minidoka County Building Department's Roof & Siding Permit Packet carries a table headed RESIDENTIAL whose single row of values is, column by column: ground snow load 20 lbs, with the figure 4800 printed beneath it; wind design speed 90 MPH; topographic effects NO; special wind region NO; wind-borne debris zone NO; seismic design category B; weathering SEVERE; frost line depth 24 inches; termite SLIGHT/MODERATE; winter design temperature 5 F; ice barrier underlayment required NO; flood hazard 1977 FIRM 160201B; air freezing index 1261; and mean annual temperature 48.1 F. These are described rather than quoted as a sentence, because the table's column headings and its cells are separate pieces of the document and running them together would produce a quotation that does not exist. THE TABLE DOES NOT SAY WHETHER 90 MPH IS A FASTEST-MILE, A NOMINAL THREE-SECOND-GUST OR AN ULTIMATE DESIGN SPEED, and those are different measurement bases for the same loading rather than different loadings. A design method, a shingle wind-rating listing or a product approval written for one basis gives the wrong answer if it is fed a number from another, so no basis is supplied here and no conversion is made. Ask the Building Official which basis the County plan-reviews to before selecting a wind-rated assembly or an enhanced fastening pattern. THREE OF THOSE ENTRIES MATTER TO A ROOF AND ARE EASY TO MISS. Topographic effects NO and special wind region NO mean the County does not apply a topographic speed-up factor or a special-wind-region adjustment, and wind-borne debris zone NO means the impact-resistant glazing rules for windborne debris do not apply here - that is a WINDOW provision, not a roofing one, and it is not an impact-resistant roof covering requirement. The County publishes a separate COMMERCIAL row in the same table with wind speeds varying by risk category, which does not govern a house. 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.

MINIDOKA COUNTY PRINTS THE RULE ITSELF, IN THE ROOFING PERMIT PACKET, WHICH IS RARE AND WORTH READING BEFORE YOU BID. Under a heading "NOTE:" the County's Roof & Siding Permit Packet reproduces the recovering-versus-replacement provision: "R907.3 – Recovering versus replacement. New roof coverings shall not be installed without first removing all existing layers of roof covering where any of the following conditions exist: 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 wood shake, slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile. 3. Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." Three conditions, and the third is a layer count: one existing layer may be recovered, a second forces a full tear-off. TWO THINGS ABOUT THE VERSION THE COUNTY PRINTS. It carries the section number R907.3, which is the numbering the recovering provision had in the 2012 edition of the International Residential Code; in the 2018 edition the County names as its current code, the same rule sits at Section R908.3.1.1. And the condition-2 list the County prints begins with "wood shake", which the 2012 text includes and the 2018 text does not. So on the County's own printed version an asphalt roof over wood shake must be torn off, while the 2018 edition would not say so. Neither difference changes the layer count, which is two on both versions, but if you are recovering over wood shake in Minidoka County, follow the County's printed rule and tear off. WHAT COULD NOT BE CHECKED. The County's own adopting ordinance and any local amendment list are published only through a commercial codifier that refuses automated access, so no reading of the County's amendments was possible here. The classification above rests on the County's own published statement of the rule rather than on an absence of amendment. 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).

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 Minidoka 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 no Minidoka County city appears on it, nor does a county have that 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.