City of Moscow - Community Development Department, Building Division

City of Moscow, Idaho

city

504 S. Washington Street, Moscow, ID 83843

Required

Required

Moscow issues a dedicated re-roof permit and keeps it deliberately simple. The City's Residential Quick Application, a one-page form headed "Use this application for the following only", carries "Residential Re-roof $71.50" as a checkbox alongside residential siding, windows and doors, simple demolition, electrical, gas and plumbing items; the form's own subtitle is "No Plan Review". The City's fee schedule states the same charge from the other side, listing "Re-Roofing Permits for Residential Structures up to 4 Units $71.50" with the note that commercial re-roofs require a full building permit. A permit issuance fee of $32.75 is charged with all permits except flat-fee, commercial and institutional permits. The City's Homeowner's Guide to Construction Permits and Inspections confirms the light-touch route in terms: "Any time a building permit is required, a site plan of your property showing the location of the work must accompany the building permit application. Simple re-roof permits are an exception and therefore do not require a site plan." THE FORM ASKS FOR THE STATE REGISTRATION NUMBER. The Residential Quick Application has a "Contractor Registration Number" field, and the Homeowner's Guide states that "If you intend to hire a building contractor, the contractor is required by law to be a registered contractor with the State of Idaho. The name and registration number will be required to be included on the permit application." WORKING WITHOUT ONE COSTS DOUBLE: the fee schedule carries a line reading "No Permit - Failure to Obtain a Permit Before Commencing Work", charged at a "Fee Equal to the Building Permit Fee", on top of the permit itself. Inspections are scheduled at the Building Division counter, by email or by telephone on 208-883-7022, are available Monday through Friday excluding holidays, and should be requested the day before. A permit lapses if no reasonable amount of work is done in any 180-day period. Applications and inspection scheduling also run through the City's online permit portal.

The City's Homeowner's Guide to Construction Permits and Inspections sets out the stages at which a residential job must stop for the Building Division: foundation inspection, when trenches are excavated, forms are set and all steel reinforcing, hold down hardware and anchor bolts are in place; concrete slab or under floor inspection, after in-slab and under-floor equipment, piping and conduit are in place but before concrete is placed or floor sheathing is installed; roof sheathing nailing inspection, when the roof sheathing is installed and entirely nailed off; framing or rough inspection, after all framing, fire blocking and bracing are in place, pipes, chimneys and vents are complete, roof covering is in place and rough electrical, plumbing and heating work has been installed and inspected; insulation inspection; lath and gypsum board inspection; and final inspection, after finish grading and when the building is complete and ready for occupancy. Inspections may be scheduled in person at the Building Division counter, by email, or by telephone on 208-883-7022, are available Monday to Friday excluding holidays, and requests should be made the day before. Inspectors will not enter a fenced property with nobody present unless prior authorisation was given with the request, and the City asks that animals be secured. The approved plans must be on site and available to the inspector. Inspections outside normal business hours are charged at $79.00 per hour with a two-hour minimum, and a re-inspection is $79.00.

LOCALLY ENACTED, ON TWO SEPARATE TRACKS, AND THE TRACK DECIDES THE ANSWER. Moscow codifies its construction regulations as City Code Title 7, and a house and a commercial building are governed by different chapters of it. RESIDENTIAL, Title 7 Chapter 16, Section 16-1: "Parts I-VI, and IX, and Appendix Chapters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, M, and Q of the International Residential Code, 2018 Edition, published by the International Code Council are hereby adopted as the official building code of the City for one (1) and two (2) family dwellings, townhouses and twinhomes, as defined by this Code". Roof assemblies are in Part III and are therefore adopted. COMMERCIAL AND GENERAL, Title 7 Chapter 1, Section 1-1: "The International Building Code, 2018 Edition, published by the International Code Council is hereby adopted as the official building code of the City, and shall apply to the erection, construction, enlargement, alteration, repair, moving, removal, conversion, demolition, occupancy, equipment, use, height, area and maintenance of buildings and structures in the City." Both chapters were last amended by Ordinance No. 2020-16, which moved the City from the 2012 IRC and the 2015 IBC to the 2018 editions and which recites that "on December 7, 2020 the City Council conducted a public hearing and considered and adopted the amendments contained herein"; it was "PASSED by the City Council and APPROVED by the Mayor this 7th day of December, 2020" and takes effect "upon its passage, approval, and publication according to law." The City's own Design Standards and Adopted Construction Codes handout lists the same suite, adding the 2018 International Existing Building Code, the 2018 International Fire Code, the 2015 Uniform Plumbing Code, the 2023 National Electrical Code, the 2018 International Fuel Gas Code, the 2018 International Mechanical Code and the 2012 International Property Maintenance Code. STATE FRAMEWORK. Idaho's residential code is set by the Idaho Building Code Board, not by the city: 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- and two-family dwellings, effective July 1, 2024, and Idaho Code 39-4116(2) requires a local government that issues building permits and performs code enforcement to adopt the Idaho residential code parts I-III and IX by ordinance. The same subsection bars a local jurisdiction from adopting provisions of a later IRC edition the Board has not adopted, so a city cannot be ahead of the state, and Moscow is not. Idaho Code 39-4116(6) settles which edition governs a given job: "Permits shall be governed by the laws in effect at the time the permit application is received." THE CITY'S OWN ROOFING AMENDMENTS, AND WHICH CODE THEY SIT IN. Moscow has written two roofing rules of its own, and both of them amend the International Building Code chapter, Title 7 Chapter 1 Section 1-2, rather than the residential chapter. The first is a roof load: "Section 1607.13 shall have added: All roofs shall be designed to carry a minimum of forty (40) pounds per square foot (psf), unit live load, plus all required unit dead load. Potential accumulation of snow at valleys, parapets, roof structures and offsets in roofs of uneven configuration shall be considered." The second is roof drainage: "Section 1502.5 Roof Drainage shall read as follows: Design and installation of roof drainage systems shall comply with the Idaho State Plumbing Code, 2015 Edition. Roof drainage shall terminate on the same property as the building or be connected with tight joint pipe to an approved storm collection system, or other approved drainage system." The discharge half of that is the part that bites on a house-sized job: water may not be put onto a neighbouring parcel. The City applies a matching rule through zoning to detached accessory buildings of 200 square feet or less, for which "roof drainage must be contained on site". Moscow's residential code chapter carries neither amendment; its six amendments to the 2018 IRC concern fuel gas pipe testing, the creation of the code enforcement agency, garage door hinges and tiny homes. Ask the Building Division which chapter governs your project before relying on either figure.

Required — IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's complete list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, read in full, does not touch Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, and Moscow's own list of amendments to that code, City Code Title 7 Chapter 16 Section 16-2, six items read in full, does not touch it either; nor does the ordinance behind that chapter, Ordinance No. 2020-16. The base 2018 IRC drip-edge requirement for asphalt shingle roofs, Section R905.2.8.5, therefore applies unmodified. Confirm the flashing detail and the fastener spacing against the shingle manufacturer's printed instructions as well, which the code makes binding. About drip edge

Required — Sourced from Moscow's own published design criteria, not inferred from climate. The City's "Design Standards & Adopted Construction Codes" handout, which fills in the residential code's climatic and geographic design table for Moscow, prints the row "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required (roofs)" with the value "Yes". The same handout sets "Ground Snow Load 64 PSF", "Roof Snow Load 40 PSF", "Winter Design Temperature 10 degrees F", "Weathering Damage Severe", "Frost Line Depth 30 inches", "Air Freezing Index 960" and "Mean Annual Temperature 47 degrees F", so the Yes sits in a set of criteria a roofer can sanity-check against the weather on the Palouse. Idaho's state rule does not answer this question: IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03 amends nothing in Chapter 9 of the 2018 International Residential Code, and Table R301.2(1) is the one part of Part III that Idaho Code 39-4116(4)(c) leaves a city or county free to fill in and amend for local conditions. The extent the barrier must reach up the roof slope is governed by the unamended base 2018 IRC text, Section R905.1.2. Other Idaho jurisdictions complete the same table for themselves and may answer differently, so confirm the answer for the address rather than for the state. About ice & water barrier

Required — Moscow requires a roof-stage inspection before the covering goes on, and it is tied to the sheathing rather than to the underlayment. The City's Homeowner's Guide to Construction Permits and Inspections says that "City building regulations require that certain inspections be made prior to covering construction work that has been completed" and that on typical residential construction "you must request inspections at certain stages of the project before proceeding"; the stage it lists between the under-floor and framing inspections is a "Roof sheathing nailing inspection: To be made when the roof sheathing is installed and entirely nailed off." The framing or rough inspection that follows is made after "roof covering is in place". WHAT THAT MEANS ON A TEAR-OFF: if the job replaces or adds roof sheathing, the deck must be inspected before it is covered, so build the visit into the schedule. The Guide publishes no separate in-progress inspection for a re-roof that leaves the existing sheathing in place, and the City's fee schedule carries no residential mid-roof inspection line, its only roofing inspection entry being a commercial roofing certificate of compliance inspection. The Guide adds that "Other inspections may be required as well as those outlined above" and that inspectors may call for more where they believe special attention is needed. Inspections are requested at the Building Division counter, by email or on 208-883-7022, and should be booked the day before.

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Moscow. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's complete list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, read in full, contains no amendment to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, and no UL 2218, Class 4 or FM 4473 impact-rating reference anywhere in the rule. Moscow's own construction regulations were read in full on both tracks that could carry such a rule, City Code Title 7 Chapter 16 (International Residential Code) and Title 7 Chapter 1 (International Building Code), together with the ordinance that last amended them, Ordinance No. 2020-16, and none of them contains a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 reference or any other impact-rating requirement. Neither the state's nor the city's adopted code imposes an impact-resistant roof covering requirement. An insurance discount for impact-rated shingles, where a carrier offers one, is a matter between the homeowner and the insurer and is not a code requirement.

Moscow publishes no size, area or dollar threshold below which a roof repair escapes a permit, and it charges one flat fee whatever the size of the job. The City's Homeowner's Guide to Construction Permits and Inspections prints its exempt list under the heading "IS A PERMIT REQUIRED?" and the sentence "Projects that do not require building permits or building inspections include the following"; the eight items lettered A through H are one-story detached accessory buildings of not more than 200 square feet, fences not over 6 feet high, retaining walls without a surcharge not over 4 feet high, certain small unattached decks, minor electrical repair work, clearing stoppages and repairing leaks in pipe and fixtures, repair or replacement of component parts of mechanical systems, and installation of portable appliances. No roofing item appears on that list at any size. The City's residential code chapter, City Code Title 7 Chapter 16, was read in full and adds no roofing item to the adopted code's list of work exempt from permit; the State of Idaho adds none either, its only two amendments to that list changing a dimension in one item and adding flag poles. ONE FIGURE THAT IS NOT A PERMIT THRESHOLD, and it is easy to mistake for one: the City's fee schedule charges a plan review fee on "Only Projects Over $10,000 in Valuation". That is a threshold for PLAN REVIEW and its fee, not for the permit. A re-roof under $10,000 still needs the permit; it simply is not plan-reviewed, which is also why the re-roof application is the No Plan Review form. A SECOND FIGURE TO IGNORE, this one statewide: do not rely on the hundred-square-foot roof repair figure that appears in Idaho's 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 the state issues 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.

Moscow fills in the residential code's climatic and geographic design criteria itself, and publishes them on a one-page handout headed "Design Standards & Adopted Construction Codes". Its wind row reads, under the heading "Wind Speed (3-second gust)", the value "115 mph-Res., 115 mph Ultimate-Comm." Read that as the City writes it: 115 mph is the figure for a house, stated on a 3-second gust basis, and the City labels the commercial figure separately as ultimate. Both numbers are 115, so the speed itself does not change with the track, but do not convert either one to the other basis or blend them; a nominal and an ultimate wind speed are different expressions of the same loading and this project has been caught by that elsewhere. The same handout sets "Wind Exposure B", "Ground Snow Load 64 PSF", "Roof Snow Load 40 PSF", "Seismic Design Category B", "Weathering Damage Severe", "Frost Line Depth 30 inches", "Termite Infestation Probability Slight to Moderate", "Winter Design Temperature 10 degrees F", "Air Freezing Index 960", "Mean Annual Temperature 47 degrees F" and "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required (roofs) Yes", and gives the flood hazard reference as FEMA map dates February 1980, revised April 2002. A SEPARATE ROOF LOAD RULE THE CITY WROTE FOR ITSELF, and note which code it sits in: Moscow amends the International Building Code, not the residential code, at Section 1607.13, adding "All roofs shall be designed to carry a minimum of forty (40) pounds per square foot (psf), unit live load, plus all required unit dead load. Potential accumulation of snow at valleys, parapets, roof structures and offsets in roofs of uneven configuration shall be considered." That amendment is in City Code Title 7 Chapter 1 and governs buildings under the International Building Code; the 40 psf figure matches the roof snow load the City publishes for the whole city on the design standards handout. One statewide wind rule that reaches Moscow: the State of Idaho deletes the model code's wind-borne debris opening-protection section, IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03(d) reading "Section R301.2.1.2 Protection of Openings. Delete." That is an opening, window and door, provision 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.

Neither the State of Idaho nor the City of Moscow modifies the model rule. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the Idaho Building Code Board's complete list of state amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, seventeen items, read in full, contains no amendment to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies. Moscow's own amendment list, City Code Title 7 Chapter 16 Section 16-2, read in full, contains six items and none of them touches Chapter 9 either: a fuel gas pipe testing provision, the section creating the City's code enforcement agency, a garage door self closing hinge requirement, and three tiny home and appendix items. The adopting instrument behind that chapter, Ordinance No. 2020-16, was also read in full and amends no roof covering provision of the residential code. The base 2018 IRC provisions therefore apply unmodified. Base-code rule, 2018 IRC Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed: a roof recover is not permitted where the existing roof or covering is water-soaked or has deteriorated to the point that it is not an adequate base for additional roofing; where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; or where the existing roof already has two or more applications of any type of roof covering. One existing layer may be recovered; a second forces a full tear-off. A local Idaho amendment to this rule would be unusually visible: Idaho Code 39-4116(4)(d) allows a city or county to 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).

IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's complete list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, read in full, contains no amendment to Chapter 8, Roof-Ceiling Construction, which carries the code's roof sheathing provisions, nor to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies. Moscow's own amendment list, City Code Title 7 Chapter 16 Section 16-2, six items read in full, does not amend Chapter 8 or Chapter 9 either, and neither does the ordinance behind it, Ordinance No. 2020-16. The base 2018 IRC roof sheathing and decking requirements therefore apply unmodified, along with the shingle manufacturer's printed installation instructions, which the code makes binding. WHAT IS LOCAL HERE IS THE INSPECTION, NOT THE SPECIFICATION. The City's Homeowner's Guide to Construction Permits and Inspections lists among the stages at which an inspection must be requested before work is covered a "Roof sheathing nailing inspection: To be made when the roof sheathing is installed and entirely nailed off", and a framing or rough inspection made after "roof covering is in place". So a Moscow job that replaces decking has to stop for the City before the covering goes on. One caution about a provision that mentions roof sheathing but is not about decking a roof: the footnote to the State of Idaho's replacement Table R302.1(1), Exterior Walls, permits the fire-resistance rating "to be reduced to zero (0) hours on the underside of the eave overhang if fireblocking is provided from the wall top plate to the underside of the roof sheathing." That is a fire separation rule about eave soffits, not a roof decking requirement.

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 applies here: a resort-city local-option tax, which Idaho Code 50-1044 confines to resort cities "with a population not in excess of ten thousand (10,000)" and which the Idaho State Tax Commission's own list of participating cities does not include Moscow in; and 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, wherever its boundaries run. Idaho counties levy no sales tax at all, so Latah County adds nothing. 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.