City of Newnan, Georgia - Building Department

City of Newnan, Georgia

city

Newnan, GA

Required

Required

Newnan issues a dedicated roofing permit on its own one-page form. The Building Department is on the second floor of City Hall, 25 LaGrange Street, and describes itself as providing "for administration and enforcement of building, housing, plumbing, electrical, health, and zoning codes", issuing the permits, examining the plans and inspecting the work. The City has moved its building forms to an online forms portal reached from the Building Permits page, where a form can be completed, documents attached and the fee paid online; the printable Roofing Permit Application remains available beside it. WHAT THE ROOFING APPLICATION ASKS: the property address, the applicant's name and whether the applicant is a contractor or the homeowner, the proposed roof covering as one of "Asphalt Shingles (2 layers max)", "TPO, PVC or EPDM (overlay only - if exposing roof deck or adding roof structure, commercial permit required)" or "Other", an email address, the cost of the project, and the square footage or squares of the project. The fee follows the roof area: a residential roof of 0 to 10,000 square feet is $100.00 and over 10,001 square feet is $200.00, including sheathing repair or replacement up to 128 square feet, with half the roof fee again beyond that. A commercial roof or reroof runs from $100.00 plus $25.00 for up to 5,000 square feet to $500.00 plus $25.00 over 60,001 square feet. Where the job is small enough to be an ordinary minor repair valued at $1,000.00 or less, section 5-30(b) allows it without a permit but only with the Chief Building Official's approval. TIMING AND CONDITIONS: a permit becomes invalid if work is not commenced within 180 days of issue or is suspended or abandoned for 180 days, extensions must be requested in writing with justifiable cause, and the permit card must be posted conspicuously on site, protected from the weather, until the certificate of occupancy or completion issues. Starting before the permit issues doubles the fee. Re-inspection is $50.00 per visit. A notarised Authorized Permit Agent Form is available where someone else pulls the permit, and an Owner Builder Affidavit where an owner-occupant does the work. Contact the Building Department on 770-253-8433 or [email protected]; the Chief Building Official is Bryan Partin.

STATE-SET AND LOCALLY ENFORCED, ON A FLOATING ADOPTION, AND NEWNAN DOES NOT PUBLISH AN EDITION OF ITS OWN - WHICH HERE IS A GOOD THING. Georgia has no local code adoption to look up. The International Residential Code, 2024 Edition, with Georgia Amendments 2026 is a mandatory state minimum standard code adopted by the Department of Community Affairs and effective January 1, 2026, and under O.C.G.A. 8-2-25(a) it binds any structure built in Georgia whether or not the local government chooses to enforce it locally. Compliance is therefore statewide and automatic; what is local is enforcement, and Newnan enforces. The City's adoption floats by design. Code section 5-3 applies each construction code "as adopted and amended by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs" without naming an edition anywhere, and section 5-3(a)(9) does exactly that for houses: "The provisions of the International Residential Code, as adopted and amended by the state department of community affairs, shall apply to the construction, alteration, repair, equipment, use and occupancy, location, maintenance, of every one- and two-family dwelling or any appurtenances connected or attached to such buildings or structures." The City's own Current Codes page carries no local list at all: it says "View the Current Codes as Adopted by DCA Mandatory Codes and Permissive Codes and Amendments website" and links straight to the Department of Community Affairs, then warns "Please Note: There are Georgia Amendments to all of the codes." So unlike several Georgia jurisdictions, Newnan has no stale edition list of its own to trip over, and it moved to the 2024 editions on January 1, 2026 without passing anything. WHAT NEWNAN DOES AMEND, in Chapter 5 Article VII, is short and nowhere near a roof: section 5-70 rewrites footnote (n) to Table R703.4 on the substrate for vinyl siding; section 5-71 amends the electrical code for its two fire districts; section 5-72 amends a plumbing table footnote; and section 5-73 adds R312.1.1.1 on guards at retaining walls attached to a house and R403.1.1.1 on footing reinforcement. The City publishes that same amendment list as a standalone Building Code Amendments sheet dated January 1, 2021, and it matches the codified text. APPENDIX U WAS NOT ESTABLISHED EITHER WAY. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction is adopted by the Department of Community Affairs as optional, and by its own scope clause it is "not mandatory unless specifically referenced in an adopting ordinance" of the jurisdiction. Chapter 5 was read in full and nowhere names Appendix U or the Disaster Resilient appendix. What it has instead is a general clause, section 5-3(d): "Appendices. Appendices referenced in the text of the construction codes shall be considered an integral part of the construction codes." Whether a general clause of that kind reaches an appendix the State adopts as optional is not settled here. Ask the Chief Building Official. CURRENCY: the Code of Ordinances is codified through Ordinance No. 2025-28, enacted December 9, 2025.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT CITY-SET, and it applies in Newnan exactly as it applies everywhere else in Georgia. The International Residential Code is one of the codes Georgia designates as a mandatory state minimum standard, so under O.C.G.A. 8-2-25(a) it binds construction in Newnan whether or not the City elects to enforce it locally - and Newnan does enforce, requiring a roofing permit and inspection. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs amendment packet for the 2024 IRC carries no amendment to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, so the Chapter 9 drip-edge provision at Section R905.2.8.5 stands as written, neither deleted nor rewritten for Georgia. Newnan's own building instrument was opened in full for this entry: Chapter 5 of the Code of Ordinances, Buildings and Building Regulations, all eight articles and every section from 5-1 to 5-83, of which not one mentions drip edge, roof covering, shingles, underlayment or roof-covering fastening. The City's amendments to the Residential Code are named and countable - section 5-70 on the substrate for vinyl siding under Table R703.4, and section 5-73 adding R312.1.1.1 on guards at retaining walls and R403.1.1.1 on footing reinforcement - and the City publishes that same list as a standalone Building Code Amendments sheet, which matches. So there is no Newnan rewrite either. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, which the Department of Community Affairs adopts as optional and which carries extra deck-sealing and shingle-fastening rules, has not been shown to be adopted here; in any event it could not remove the drip-edge requirement. The operative ICC text of R905.2.8.5, which sets the extent, lap and fastening specifics, sits behind the ICC paywall; this record does not restate it and does not rely on any third-party republication of it. What is recorded is the sourced fact that the requirement is in force in Newnan unamended. About drip edge

Not required — NEWNAN ANSWERS THIS ITSELF, WHICH ALMOST NO GEORGIA JURISDICTION DOES. The Residential Code leaves its climatic and geographic criteria table for the local jurisdiction to complete, and the Newnan Building Department publishes a completed one: a Design Criteria sheet headed "TABLE R301.2(1) CLIMATIC AND GEOGRAPHIC DESIGN CRITERIA". Under the column headed "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required" the City's entry is "NO". So no ice barrier underlayment is required by the City's own determination. The rest of the same row, so a roofer can see the context it sits in, gives a ground snow load of 5 PSF, a wind design speed of 115 mph with topographic effects and special wind region both "N/A" and windborne debris zone "NO", seismic design category B, weathering "MODERATE", a frost line depth of 5 inches, termite exposure "VERY HEAVY", a winter design temperature of 22, flood hazards "2/6/2013", an air freezing index of 67 and a mean annual temperature of 62.2. TWO CAUTIONS. This is the City's determination for code purposes and it is not a waterproofing recommendation: a shingle manufacturer's warranty, a low-slope detail or a valley or eave condition can still call for a self-adhering membrane, and nothing here relieves you of the manufacturer's instructions the Code makes binding. And the sheet is an undated Building Department publication whose flood-hazard entry points at a 2013 map date, so confirm the entry has not been revised when the permit is pulled. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NO IN-PROGRESS ROOFING INSPECTION IS PRESCRIBED, AND THE ORDINANCE LISTS THE STAGES BY NAME SO THE NEGATIVE IS CHECKABLE. Code section 5-37(f) sets out the required inspections in four trade groups. The Building group is: foundation and foundation wall; "Slab or floor system: To be made prior to the placing of concrete and/or prior to the floor decking being installed"; "Nail pattern inspection: To be made prior to the installation of the exterior finish materials"; "Framing inspection: To be made after the roof, all framing, fire blocking and bracing are in place, all concealed wiring, all pipes, chimneys, ducts and vents are complete"; insulation; and final. The Electrical, Mechanical, and Plumbing and gas groups each run underground, rough-in and final, with each rough-in timed "after the roof, framing, fire blocking and bracing" are in place. Every reference to a roof in that list is a timing marker for a new-construction stage, not a roofing inspection: there is no dry-in, felt, underlayment or post-tear-off stage anywhere in it. TWO THINGS THAT STILL BITE ON A REROOF. Section 5-37(f) requires the listed inspections "and such other inspections as necessary", so the Chief Building Official may call for more than the list. And section 5-37(g) provides that "Reinforcing steel, structural frame, insulation, plumbing, electrical or work of any part of any building or structure shall not be covered or concealed without first obtaining a release from the chief building official or his representative" - which on a tear-off is the reason to call before you sheet over exposed framing or replaced decking rather than after. The permit card must be posted conspicuously on the premises before work commences and kept there until the certificate issues, and a re-inspection costs $50.00 per visit. Read the inspection list attached to your own permit rather than assuming a single final.

Not required — No impact-resistant or hail-rated roof covering is required in Newnan. Neither the Georgia State Amendments packet to the 2024 International Residential Code nor Chapter 5 of the Newnan Code of Ordinances contains any UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 impact requirement. The Georgia packet does not amend the Code's roofing chapter at all, and Chapter 5, read in full across all eight articles, amends the Residential Code only at section 5-70, on the substrate for vinyl siding, and section 5-73, adding a guard requirement at retaining walls and a footing reinforcement requirement - none of which is an impact rating. The City's own Roofing Permit Application asks which covering is proposed and how many squares, and asks nothing about impact class or hail rating; the Design Criteria sheet has no impact column. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction has not been shown to be adopted here, and its roofing content is about secondary water barriers and fastening rather than impact in any event. An insurer may still offer a premium credit for an impact-rated shingle in the west-metro hail belt, but that is an insurance matter and not a code requirement here.

THERE IS A REAL PERMIT-FREE BAND IN NEWNAN, IT IS SMALL, AND IT IS NOT AUTOMATIC - READ BOTH LIMBS. Code section 5-30(a) sets the general rule: "Any owner, authorized agent, or contractor who desires to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, 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, the installation of which is regulated by the construction codes, or to cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the chief building official and obtain the required permit for the work." Section 5-30(b) is the exception, in full: "Minor repairs. Ordinary minor repairs, valued at $1,000.00 or less, may be made with the approval of the chief building official without a permit, provided that such repairs shall not violate any of the provisions of the construction codes." So the work must be an ordinary minor repair, it must be valued at $1,000.00 or less, and the Chief Building Official must approve it. A roof replacement is not an ordinary minor repair and will not come in under $1,000.00, so a reroof requires a permit; a genuine patch may qualify, but the approval is part of the test, not a formality - do not simply decide for yourself that a job is under the line. THE CITY ALSO PUBLISHES A SEPARATE MINOR REPAIR PERMIT APPLICATION for small work that is above the line, priced at "$25.00 plus $50.00 per 1,000 sq ft of building footprint improved (no plan review fee)" and offered for "Window replacement, siding replacement, deck repairs, etc."; it states on its face that it "is not for new decks, pools or new one- and two-family dwellings". Roofing is not among its listed examples, and roofing has its own application and its own fee line, so use the Roofing Permit Application for a roof. WHAT WAS READ: Chapter 5 of the Code of Ordinances, Buildings and Building Regulations, in full - all eight articles and every section from 5-1 to 5-83 - and it contains no other exemption from permit, and no schedule of exempt work of the kind the model codes carry. WATCH THE PENALTY, WHICH IS DOUBLE FROM TWO DIRECTIONS. Section 5-36(b) imposes "a penalty of 100 percent of the usual permit fee in addition to the required permit fees" on anyone commencing work before obtaining the permit, and the City Fee Schedule says the same: "If work for which a permit is required is started or preceded prior to obtaining said permit, the fee herein shall be doubled". A permit also goes invalid if work is not commenced within 180 days of issue, or is suspended or abandoned for 180 days.

115 MILES PER HOUR ON THE CITY'S OWN TABLE - AND THE SHEET DOES NOT STATE THE AVERAGING BASIS, SO DO NOT ASSUME ONE. The Newnan Building Department publishes a completed "TABLE R301.2(1) CLIMATIC AND GEOGRAPHIC DESIGN CRITERIA" sheet. Its "Wind Design" block has a "Speed (mph)" column and the City's entry is 115. Alongside it, "Topographic effects" is "N/A", "Special wind region" is "N/A", and "Windborne debris zone" is "NO", so Newnan is not calling itself a special wind region and is not imposing windborne debris protection. WHAT THE SHEET DOES NOT SAY is whether 115 is an ultimate design wind speed or a nominal three-second gust. Those are different bases and they are not interchangeable: an ultimate figure dropped into a fastening or uplift calculation that expects a nominal one, or the reverse, gives the wrong answer, and no conversion is performed here. Confirm the basis and the exposure category with the Chief Building Official before designing to the number. The same sheet gives, for completeness, a ground snow load of 5 PSF, seismic design category B, weathering "MODERATE", a frost line depth of 5 inches, termite exposure "VERY HEAVY", a winter design temperature of 22, no ice barrier underlayment requirement, flood hazards "2/6/2013", an air freezing index of 67 and a mean annual temperature of 62.2, plus a Manual J block giving an elevation of 980 ft and a latitude of 33.

THE CITY'S OWN ROOFING PERMIT APPLICATION STATES A TWO-LAYER CAP FOR ASPHALT SHINGLES, AND YOU SHOULD PLAN AROUND IT - BUT KNOW WHERE IT COMES FROM. On the Roofing Permit Application the applicant picks a proposed roof covering, and the first option is printed as "Asphalt Shingles (2 layers max)". The second option is "TPO, PVC or EPDM (overlay only - if exposing roof deck or adding roof structure, commercial permit required)", and the third is a free-text "Other". So on the City's own form, an asphalt roof is permitted on the footing that no more than two layers will be in place, and a single-ply membrane job is treated as an overlay unless the deck is exposed or structure is added, in which case it becomes a commercial permit. THAT FIGURE IS ON A PERMIT APPLICATION, NOT IN AN ORDINANCE, and this record does not turn it into a legal classification for that reason. The legal position underneath it is the state code. The residential code in force is the 2024 International Residential Code with the Georgia Amendments 2026, the Georgia amendment packet makes no change to the Code's roofing chapter, so the base International Residential Code reroofing and roof-recover provisions apply as published and Georgia adds no layer cap of its own. On the local side, Chapter 5 of the Newnan Code was read in full and its only amendments to the Residential Code are section 5-70 on the substrate for vinyl siding, and section 5-73 adding R312.1.1.1 on guards and R403.1.1.1 on footing reinforcement - none of which touches roof coverings or the number of layers. PRACTICAL EFFECT: expect the City to hold you to two layers of asphalt shingle, expect to be asked on the application which covering you are putting on, and settle anything unusual with the Chief Building Official before the tear-off.

SET BY THE STATE CODE - BUT NEWNAN PRICES SHEATHING REPLACEMENT, AND THE 128 SQUARE FOOT LINE IS THE NUMBER TO REMEMBER. The Georgia amendment packet to the 2024 International Residential Code makes no change to the Code's roofing chapter, so the base International Residential Code provisions on the deck beneath a roof covering apply as published, and Chapter 5 of the Newnan Code, read in full, prescribes no roof-deck material, thickness or fastening. What is local is the fee. The City Fee Schedule prices "Residential Roof" at "0 to 10,000 square feet of roof area - $100.00" and "Over 10,001 square feet - $200.00", and then adds two lines that decide what a tear-off costs: the roof fee "Includes sheathing repair/replacement up to 128 square feet", and "Sheathing repair/replacement over 128 square feet plus 1/2 roof fee". So replacing rotten decking does not need its own permit, but past 128 square feet it adds half the roof fee again, and the quantity has to be declared. A commercial roof or reroof is priced separately by area, from $100.00 plus $25.00 up to $500.00 plus $25.00. ONE TRAP WORTH NAMING, BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE A ROOF RULE AND IS NOT. Newnan's only local sheathing provision, Code section 5-70, amends footnote (n) to Table R703.4 of the International Residential Code and reads: "The substrate for vinyl siding must be at a minimum one-half inch wood structural panels or other structural panels of equivalent strength and durability. The use of insulating sheathing and sheathing insulation board, as the sole means of wall sheathing, shall not be permitted." That is a WALL rule about the substrate behind vinyl siding, in the Code's wall covering chapter. It says nothing about a roof deck and must not be applied to one.

8% in Newnan. The Georgia Department of Revenue rate chart in force for July 1 through September 30, 2026 lists jurisdiction code 038 "Coweta" at 8%, combining the 4% Georgia state rate with the local components the chart marks LOST, Educational, SPLOST and PTRLOST. Newnan lies wholly within Coweta County and the chart gives Coweta no city-level split, so 8% is the figure everywhere in the city. The chart states the state component in its own first line: "Code 000 - The state sales and use tax rate is 4%. Other than 803 Fulton (Cent. Yards), state tax is included in the jurisdiction rates below." The Department of Revenue has already published the chart taking effect on October 1, 2026 and the Coweta row is unchanged in it at 8%, so the figure holds through that reissue - worth knowing, because three other Georgia counties do rise on that date. Both charts were read at their published rates and confirmed against a rendered image of the page rather than a text extraction. FOR THE ROOFER, WHO PAYS IT: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 560-12-2-.26(1) makes anyone who contracts to furnish materials and perform services improving real property "the consumer of all tangible personal property used or consumed in performing such contract" and who "shall pay the tax thereon at the time of purchase, use, storage or consumption in this State, whichever occurs first" - so the tax on the shingles is the contractor's, paid at the supplier, and not a line the homeowner is charged as a resale item. The same rule requires every contractor improving real property in Georgia to file for a Certificate of Registration on Form CRF-002 before its first construction activity in the state, which is a tax registration and not a contractor credential.