City of Murfreesboro Building and Codes Department

City of Murfreesboro, Tennessee

city

Murfreesboro, TN

Not required

Required

Murfreesboro building permits are administered by the Building and Codes Department at City Hall, 111 W. Vine Street. The city's Residential Permits page states residential permit applications may be submitted by email or in person, with roughly 2 weeks allowed for processing; once approved, the applicant is notified of fees and payment options. Building permit and inspection services are also available through the city's online Permit Center. Because Murfreesboro's own R105.2 amendment exempts most roof-covering replacement from the permit requirement (see repair_permit_threshold), a roofer's first practical step is confirming whether the specific job -- deck/framing replacement or not -- actually needs a permit before applying. Where a permit is required, homeowners may pull their own residential permit for their primary residence, but a Tennessee-licensed contractor is required if the property is a rental.

For permitted new residential construction, the Building and Codes Department's Inspection Checklist sets out four inspection stages in order: (1) Foundation -- including erosion-control measures, plumbing-in-slab testing, and footing/steel placement; (2) Framing/Rough-In -- the structure must be "dried-in" (roof covering applied, housewrap on sheathing, exterior doors/windows sealed) with electrical, plumbing, and gas rough-ins complete; (3) Energy Efficiency/Insulation; and (4) Final -- all trade finals complete, grading and erosion protection in place, site clear of debris. Electrical work has its own three-stage sequence (Underground/Slab, Rough-In, Final) scheduled alongside the building inspections. Inspections are requested by phone at 615-893-3750 (8:00 am-4:30 pm) with the permit number and inspection type. For roofing work that does require a permit (deck or framing replacement), the roof-covering step is verified as part of the Framing/Rough-In inspection rather than as a separate roof-only inspection -- see midroof_inspection_required.

The City of Murfreesboro adopts the 2018 International Residential Code, including Appendix Chapters D, G, H, J, K and T, by Ordinance 18-O-71, codified at Murfreesboro City Code Sections 7-11 (International Residential Code -- Adopted) and 7-12 (International Residential Code -- Amended). Ordinance 18-O-71 (read in full, all 15 sections and its lettered amendment lists) passed second and final reading January 17, 2019, and by its own Section 15 took effect February 1, 2019 (or 15 days after passage, whichever last occurred). The same ordinance also adopted, in the same instrument, the 2018 International Building Code, 2018 International Existing Building Code, 2018 International Mechanical Code, 2018 International Energy Conservation Code, 2017 National Electrical Code, 2018 International Fire Code, 2018 International Fuel Gas Code, 2018 International Property Maintenance Code, 2018 International Plumbing Code, and 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, each in its own numbered City Code chapter/section.

Required — Ordinance 18-O-71's complete list of local 2018 IRC amendments (items A through RR of Section 4), read in full, does not touch Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, so the base 2018 IRC drip-edge provision, IRC Section R905.2.8.5, applies unmodified in Murfreesboro. About drip edge

Not required — Ordinance 18-O-71, Section 4(N), amends Table R301.2(1), Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria, by inserting the city's specific values into the table, including the row "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required" set to "No." No separate ice-barrier provision appears elsewhere among the ordinance's local amendments. About ice & water barrier

Not required — The City of Murfreesboro's own two-page Inspection Checklist (Building and Codes Department, read in full) lists the required inspection sequence for residential construction -- Foundation, Framing/Rough-In, Energy Efficiency/Insulation, Final, and Electrical (Underground/Slab, Rough-In, Final) -- and names no separate, standalone roofing, mid-roof, or dry-in inspection. The only roof-related item is that the structure must be "dried-in," i.e. roof covering applied, before the Framing/Rough-In inspection is called for new construction; that is a precondition for an existing inspection stage, not a distinct roofing inspection. The city's Residential Permits page and Permit Center page, also read, likewise describe no roofing-specific or mid-progress inspection step.

Not required — Ordinance 18-O-71's complete list of local 2018 IRC amendments (items A through RR of Section 4), read in full, amends only administrative/permit-exemption sections, Table R301.2(1), exterior-wall setbacks, egress, fire-sprinkler and accessibility provisions, energy-code Chapter 11, and various plumbing/gas sections; no provision in Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, is touched. No UL 2218 or Class 4 impact-rating requirement appears among the city's local amendments.

CITY-SPECIFIC EXEMPTION. Ordinance 18-O-71, Section 4(D), amends IRC Section R105.2 (building work exempt from permit) by replacing exemption item 2 with: "Roof covering replacement that does not involve the replacement of the roof deck or framing." Read in full, this means an ordinary roof-covering replacement (tear-off and reroof, or overlay) that does not touch the roof deck or structural framing does not require a City of Murfreesboro building permit. Roofing work that does involve replacing the roof deck and/or framing falls outside this exemption and requires a permit.

Per Table R301.2(1), Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria, as amended by Ordinance 18-O-71 Section 4(N) with values specific to Murfreesboro: Ground Snow Load 10 lbs.; Wind Design Speed 115 mph; Topographic Effects No; Special Wind Region No; Windborne Debris Zone No; Seismic Design Category B; Weathering Severe; Frost Line Depth 12 inches; Termite damage risk Moderate to Heavy; Winter Design Temperature 14 degrees F; Ice Barrier Underlayment Required No; Air Freezing Index 366; Mean Annual Temp 59 degrees F. The same amendment adds a Manual J design-criteria supplement (elevation 615 ft, latitude 35 degrees North, winter/summer indoor and outdoor design temperatures and humidity notes) referencing a footnote requiring those values to be determined using Manual J Design Criteria.

The City of Murfreesboro adopts the 2018 IRC by Ordinance 18-O-71. The ordinance's complete, self-contained list of local IRC amendments (items A through RR of Section 4, read in full), together with the rest of the 15-section ordinance, does not touch Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies) or any roof-covering provision -- its IRC amendments instead reach only administrative/permit-exemption sections, Table R301.2(1) (climatic and geographic design criteria), exterior wall setbacks, opening protection, means of egress from bedrooms, fire sprinkler and accessibility provisions, energy-code Chapter 11 and its tables, and various plumbing/gas sections. Because Chapter 9 is untouched, the base 2018 IRC's own roof-recover/roof-replacement layer provision, IRC Section R908.3, applies unmodified in Murfreesboro.

The City of Murfreesboro adopts the 2018 IRC by Ordinance 18-O-71. The ordinance's complete list of local IRC amendments (items A through RR of Section 4), read in full, does not touch Chapter 8 (Roof-Ceiling Construction, where the base IRC's roof sheathing provisions live) or Chapter 9 (Roof Assemblies). So the base 2018 IRC provision on roof deck sheathing, IRC Section R803, applies unmodified in Murfreesboro.

Murfreesboro adopts the 2018 IRC by Ordinance No. 18-O-71, and the city's own local amendments to it (Code of Ordinances Sec. 7-12(A) through (RR), read in full) contain no nailing-pattern or fastener-specific provision for roof coverings -- the amendment list does not touch Section R905 at all. The base 2018 IRC's own fastening requirements apply unmodified within the city; this record does not restate that unread base-code text. About roofing nails

Murfreesboro's combined general sales and use tax rate is 9.75%: the Tennessee state rate of 7.00% plus the Rutherford County local option rate of 2.75%. No separate City of Murfreesboro municipal sales tax or special-district add-on applies on top of the county's local option rate. The Tennessee Department of Revenue's own Local Sales Tax Rates Map (the state's authoritative published source for the local-option component) is delivered as a JS/Tableau-embedded interactive tool that this session could not extract text from directly. Rutherford County's own government website publishes an official Sales Tax Calculator whose underlying code (read directly) sets the combined rate at 9.75% for purchases under $3,200, split as a 7.00% state rate plus the county's local option rate applied on top, consistent with the DOR's published statewide 7.00% base rate.