Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Minot, ND?

Roofing questions: Minot, ND

Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Minot, ND?

No, Minot, ND does not require a permit to replace a roof. THERE IS NO THRESHOLD TO CLEAR, BECAUSE RE-ROOFING IS NOT PERMITTED WORK IN MINOT - and the exemption is one the City wrote itself rather than one it inherited. Section 9-6 of the City of Minot Code of Ordinances, the City's amendment section for the 2024 International Residential Code, provides at subsection (7): "Section R105.2, subsection 'Building,' Items 11, 12, and 13 of the IRC are hereby added and enacted to read as follows: 11. Re-roofing. 12. Re-siding 13. Ordinary repairs or alterations which do not involve the structural (i.e., weight-bearing) elements of the building being altered and which do not affect the means of ingress to or egress from the building." IRC Section R105.2 is the code's list of work exempt from permit, and the preceding subsection (6) of Section 9-6 confirms Minot is working inside that list - it provides that "Section R105.2 of the IRC shall remain as adopted, with the exception of subsection 'Building,' Items 2 and 10 of the North Dakota State Building Code," which it then rewrites (fences, and decks under 120 square feet). So Minot added re-roofing to the exempt list by name, with no dollar figure, no square-foot figure and no distinction between repair, recover and tear-off. Two limits a roofer should plan around. First, the exemption is written as "Re-roofing" and item 13 separately exempts only repairs that "do not involve the structural (i.e., weight-bearing) elements" - work that replaces roof framing or rebuilds a structural deck is not ordinary re-roofing and should be confirmed with the Inspection Division before it is treated as exempt. Second, and this is the trap in Minot, an exemption from the permit is not an exemption from the code: the 2024 International Residential Code as adopted still governs how the roof is built, and the City's own minimum roof snow load still applies to the structure carrying it.

Is drip edge required in Minot, ND?

Yes. Minot adopts the 2024 International Residential Code at Section 9-5 of the City of Minot Code of Ordinances, as amended by the State of North Dakota and then by the City. Both amendment layers were read in full and neither touches Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies): the City's Section 9-6 runs to fifteen amendments, none of them in Chapter 8 or Chapter 9, and the state's amendments to the 2024 IRC in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book reach only Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and 21. The base 2024 IRC drip-edge requirement therefore applies in Minot unmodified, with no local variation and no local exception. Note that the drip edge is still required on an ordinary reroof even though the reroof itself needs no Minot permit - the permit exemption removes the inspection, not the code.

Can you roof over an existing roof in Minot, ND?

No Minot-specific cap on existing roof-covering layers exists, so the base code applies. Minot adopts the 2024 International Residential Code at Section 9-5 of the City of Minot Code of Ordinances, "as amended by the State of North Dakota," and then amends it itself at Section 9-6. Section 9-6 was read in full - fifteen numbered amendments, reaching Sections R101.1, R102.1, R103.1, R103.2, R104.3.1, R105.2 (twice), R108.2, R108.6, R109.1.5.1, R112.1, R301.6 and R403.1.4.1, and adding Sections M1308.3 and M2005.5 - and it contains no amendment to Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies), no reference to roof recover or overlay, and no layer count. The state layer was read as well: the amendments to the 2024 IRC published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, effective January 1, 2026, reach only Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and 21, and likewise say nothing about roof recover. So the number of existing layers that may remain before a tear-off is required in Minot is whatever the base 2024 International Residential Code says at its roof-recover provisions, unmodified by either North Dakota or the City. Base-code rule, read at 2024 International Residential Code Section R908.4, Roof recover, Exceptions, and quoted here rather than left behind the ICC paywall: a roof recover "shall not be permitted" where "the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second existing layer means a tear-off to the deck. One practical point that is specific to Minot and easy to get wrong: because re-roofing is exempt from permit here, nobody from the City will look at the roof and tell a contractor the layer count is now too high. The base-code limit still binds the work.

What building code does Minot, ND use?

Minot is an electing jurisdiction under North Dakota law. North Dakota has no building code that binds every municipality: NDCC 54-21.3-03(6) provides that the governing body of a city, township or county "that elects to administer and enforce a building code shall adopt and enforce the state building code," and adds that "the state building code may be amended by cities, townships, and counties to conform to local needs." That amendment power carries no stringency limit and no state approval requirement, so state text alone never settles a Minot question - the City's own chapter does. Minot has elected, and its adoptions sit in Chapter 9 (Buildings and Housing), Article I (Building Codes) of the City of Minot Code of Ordinances. Section 9-5 provides that "The International Residential Code, 2024 Edition (published by the International Code Council, Inc. and as amended by the State of North Dakota), is by reference thereto incorporated herein as fully as though set out at length hereafter (except and to the extent that the provisions thereof are amended as provided in section 9-6 below)," and applies it "in the City of Minot, and within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Minot, in which the city has asserted its zoning powers pursuant to Section 40-47-01.1, N.D.C.C." The parallel adoptions are Section 9-1 (2024 International Building Code), Section 9-3 (2024 International Existing Building Code) and Section 9-7 (2024 International Energy Conservation Code), each in the same "as amended by the State of North Dakota" form and each carried by Ordinance No. 6150, adopted December 15, 2025. Houses and townhouses run under the IRC track, so Section 9-5 as amended by Section 9-6 is the operative code for a Minot reroof. The City's Building Safety division confirms the same edition on its own letterhead in its residential design-load guidance, which is written "Using the 2024 IRC & ASCE 7-22."

Is a mid-roof inspection required in Minot, ND?

No. There is no city mid-roof or in-progress roof inspection on an ordinary Minot reroof, and the reason is the permit exemption rather than a separate inspection rule: Section 9-6 of the City of Minot Code of Ordinances adds "Re-roofing" to the International Residential Code Section R105.2 list of work exempt from permit, and with no permit issued there is no city deck, underlayment or in-progress inspection to schedule. The City's published residential inspection checklist is a checklist for buildings under construction - building site and soils, foundation and footing, site drainage, backfilling, framing rough in, garage portal walls, insulation, moisture control, vapor retarder, roof and ceilings, slab insulation, windows and glazing, stairs and handrails, smoke alarms, electrical systems, plumbing systems, city flat work, flood zone construction and sanitary drainage - and it applies to permitted work, not to an exempt reroof. Work that goes beyond re-roofing and does require a permit in Minot, such as a job that replaces weight-bearing roof structure, is inspected on the terms of that permit, and those terms are not established in this record.