Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Ouray, CO?

City of Ouray, Colorado

city

Ouray, CO

Required

Building permit forms and applications are available through the Building Forms & Permits section of the city website (hosted in a shared document folder). The Building Inspector can be reached at 970-325-7087 or [email protected]; the office is at 320 6th Ave, PO Box 468, Ouray, CO 81427.

SafeBuilt provides virtual inspections and plan reviews, while Buckhorn Engineering conducts on-site inspections as needed.

The City of Ouray has adopted the 2018 International Codes series, including the International Building Code, International Residential Code, International Fire Code, International Plumbing Code, and companion codes covering mechanical, fuel gas, energy conservation, and pool/spa standards.

Required — Required city-wide. The City of Ouray's substituted climatic and geographic design criteria table answers "Ice Barrier Underlayment" with "Yes", so the ice barrier provisions of the adopted residential code apply to every roof in the city. About ice & water barrier

Not required — The City of Ouray's codified Municipal Code, Chapter 6, Building Regulations, was read in full across all fifteen of its sections. Every section carries Ordinance No. 6, 2023 as its enacting history, and the codification is current through Ordinance 2, 2025, passed March 17, 2025. Section 6-1 adopts the 2018 International Building Code, Chapters 1 through 35 and Appendix Chapter J, and Section 6-2 adopts the 2018 International Residential Code, Chapters 1 through 34 with Appendices B, F, H, J, K, M, Q, R and S, each together with the additions, deletions, insertions and changes set out in the section's own amendment list; the chapter goes on to adopt the 2018 Existing Building, Fire, Mechanical, Fuel Gas, Energy Conservation and Swimming Pool and Spa Codes, the National Electrical Code, the Manufactured Housing Installation Handbook and the Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings, and to set out administration, licensing, floodplain and temporary structure provisions. Two amendments reach reroofing. Section R908.3.1.1, Roof cover not allowed, has its third subsection amended to read "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering unless the third covering is metal panels and appropriate length fasteners are used," and Section R908 gains a new Section R908.7 requiring attic ventilation to comply with Section R806. A further amendment relieves rooftop photovoltaic systems weighing not more than 3 pounds per square foot from an engineer's review of the roof structure. Those provisions govern how many layers may remain, attic ventilation and rooftop equipment; none classifies the covering material. The City sets no local fire class on roof coverings and no impact rating, and neither the adopted codes nor any City amendment requires impact-resistant roof coverings or names a UL 2218 or Class 4 standard. The only statewide instrument reaching reroofing is the Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code, 8 CCR 1507-39, effective July 1, 2026 in areas designated wildland-urban interface under that code, which requires a Class A roof covering tested to ASTM E108 or UL 790 where 25 percent or more of the roof surface is replaced, at Sections 101.6 and 403.2; that is a fire classification independent of impact rating, and the code sets no impact-resistance requirement.

No size or value threshold exempts roofing work in the City of Ouray. The permit-exemption lists in both adopted codes are closed lists and neither names roofing among the exempt work, so the permit requirement attaches to roof repair regardless of area.

An ultimate design wind speed of 115 mph at exposure category B or C, in Seismic Design Category C. The City of Ouray deletes the model climatic and geographic design criteria table and substitutes its own, which also sets a ground snow load of 65 pounds per square foot, severe weathering, a frost line depth of 36 inches, a slight termite probability and a winter design temperature of 7 degrees Fahrenheit. Topographic effects, special wind region and windborne debris zone are each given as not applicable.

Two existing layers normally force a full tear-off, but Ouray writes in a metal-panel exception. The City amends the roof-cover-not-allowed provision so that a new covering may not go over an existing roof "where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering unless the third covering is metal panels and appropriate length fasteners are used." So a third layer is permitted in metal panels and in nothing else. The City separately adds a requirement that attic ventilation on a reroof comply with the roof ventilation section.

9.45 percent combined: 2.9 percent state, 2.55 percent Ouray County and 4 percent City of Ouray. No special district applies. Rates read from the Colorado Department of Revenue publication DR 1002, January 2026 edition.