Permitting Authorities / City of Paducah, Kentucky - Community Development Department, Building Division

City of Paducah, Kentucky - Community Development Department, Building Division

Adopted code

The City of Paducah, Kentucky's own permitting authority for buildings within city limits, including one- and two-family dwellings. The City's Code of Ordinances, Chapter 18 (Buildings and Building Regulations), Article II, Section 18-31, provides: "(a) The Kentucky Building Code and the Kentucky Residential Code are hereby adopted by reference and made a part of this Code as if fully set forth herein. (b) The Kentucky Building Code is hereby made applicable to all buildings within the City, excluding one- and two-family dwellings. (c) The Kentucky Residential Code is hereby made applicable to all one- and two-family dwellings and normally accepted accessory structures." Section 18-61 directs the City's Building and/or Electrical Inspector to issue permits required by the adopted codes upon payment of the fees set out in that section, and prints a dedicated "One- and Two-Family Residential Building Flat/Minimum Permit Fee Schedule." Kentucky's residential code is a mandatory, uniform statewide code (815 KAR 7:125 section 2(1)): the 2015 International Residential Code as amended by the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition (August 2024). The code's own text bars any local government from adopting or enforcing a different building code for a one- or two-family dwelling (KRC R101.3, R102.2), so Paducah's own Section 18-31 adoption points at, and cannot lawfully vary from, that same statewide code. The City's own permitting guide directs applicants for both commercial and residential building permits to the City's online self-service portal. This record covers the City of Paducah only; it does not address unincorporated McCracken County, whose own permitting arrangement was not established in this session.

Jurisdiction

City of Paducah, Kentucky

Jurisdiction type

city

Address

300 South 5th Street, Paducah, KY 42003

Contact

url: https://paducahky.gov/permitting-and-licensing-guide
phone: 270-444-8690

Roofing permit required

Required

Registration details

state_level: No Kentucky trade license or registration names roofing. Kentucky licenses HVAC, electrical, plumbing, boiler and fire-protection-sprinkler contractors, and each scheme's own scope enumeration was read in full; roofing appears in none of them. Kentucky has no general contractor or home-improvement license, and the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction publishes no roofing division. Kentucky preempts local licensure expressly where it means to - for electricians (KRS 227A.020(6)) and for home inspectors (KRS 198B.726) - and enacts no equivalent bar for roofers, so a local roofer registration remains a live possibility in any given Kentucky jurisdiction and must be checked at that level.
city_level: No Paducah-specific roofing contractor registration or license was found. Chapter 18 of the City's Code of Ordinances, which governs building permits and inspections, contains no section establishing a contractor registration or license (its one "license" reference and two "contractor" references concern electrical and HVAC permit fee calculations, not a credential). The City's own Permitting and Licensing Guide states that Building Division staff will "verify that business licensing is current for contractor and sub-contractors" as a condition of permit issuance - a general business license, not a trade-specific credential. This record does not assert that no roofing registration exists in Paducah, only that none was found in the materials read this session. Confirm with the Community Development Department - Building Division at 270-444-8690.

Adopted code

The 2015 International Residential Code as amended by the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition (August 2024), mandatory statewide and uniform across every Kentucky jurisdiction, including Paducah. 815 KAR 7:125 Section 2(1) provides: "the 2015 International Residential Code for One (1) and Two (2) Family Dwellings (IRC) shall be the mandatory state residential building code for all single-family dwellings, two (2) family dwellings, and townhouses constructed in Kentucky, except that the Kentucky amendments in the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code shall supersede any conflicting provision in the 2015 IRC." The code's own R101.3 adds: "Local governments shall not adopt or enforce any other building code for detached single family dwellings, two-family dwellings and townhouses." Paducah's own Code of Ordinances Section 18-31 adopts "the Kentucky Building Code and the Kentucky Residential Code" by reference and makes the Residential Code "applicable to all one- and two-family dwellings and normally accepted accessory structures" - pointing at, and not varying from, the same statewide code. One statewide carve-out applies on some McCracken County properties: KRS 198B.010(4) excludes from the definition of "building" - and therefore from the code - "a farm dwelling or other farm buildings and structures incident to the operation and maintenance of the farm if the farm structures are located outside the boundary of a municipality" and are not retail, not a workplace for ten or more, and not timber storage; KRC R101.2 Exception 3 repeats it. A rural farmhouse outside a municipality's boundary can fall outside this code entirely; this record does not decide whether any particular property qualifies.

Drip edge

Required — Required statewide by Kentucky's own enacted text, with an alternate-methods allowance. The Kentucky Residential Code's Section R905.2.8.5, Drip edge, reads: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and gables of shingle roofs. Adjacent pieces of drip edge shall be overlapped a minimum of 2 inches. Drip edges shall extend a minimum of 0.25 inch below the roof sheathing and extend up the roof deck a minimum of 2 inches. Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the roof deck at a maximum of 12 inches on center... Alternate methods to the standard metal drip edge may include site formed coil stock that creates a drip line as intended by the code. Wood, composite, and manufactured trim installed on the fascia shall create a drip line to prevent water from running back under the shingles, which will meet the requirements of the drip edge." Because Kentucky bars a local government from adopting or enforcing any other building code for a one- or two-family dwelling (KRC R101.3), this applies identically in Paducah; no Paducah-specific amendment on the point was found or would be lawful. About drip edge

Impact-resistant roofing

Not required — Not required by Kentucky's statewide residential code, and no other code may lawfully impose one in Paducah. A full counted read of both the Kentucky Residential Code amendment packet and the Kentucky Building Code amendment packet returns zero occurrences of "UL 2218," "Class 4," "Class IV," "impact," and "hail." Because KRC R102.2 provides that "a local ordinance shall not establish any additional or contradictory building construction standard than those adopted in this code," and KRC R101.3 bars a local government from adopting or enforcing any other building code for a one- or two-family dwelling, this negative reaches Paducah directly, not merely the state layer. An insurer's premium discount for an impact-rated shingle is not a code mandate.

Repair permit threshold

No dollar or square-footage threshold specific to roofing is published by the City, and Kentucky state law points in two directions at once. The City's own Code of Ordinances Section 18-61(e) prints a "One- and Two-Family Residential Building Flat/Minimum Permit Fee Schedule" that lists "Renovations/repairs" at a flat $60.00 fee, with no separate roofing line and no dollar or square-footage carve-out for roofing - so a residential reroof falls within that generic category on the fee schedule's own terms, subject to the general permit-issuance requirement in Section 18-61(a). Separately, Kentucky's own statutes pull in opposite directions on whether a roof replacement is inside a "construction" permit requirement at all: KRS 198B.010(21) defines "ordinary repair" to include, by name, "the replacement or installation of nonstructural components of the building such as roofing... that does not alter the structural integrity," and KRS 198B.010(11) then excludes "ordinary repair" from the definition of "construction," the term KRS 198B.060(8) attaches the permit requirement to. Against that, the Kentucky Residential Code's own scope at R101.2 reaches "alteration... replacement, repair," and neither Paducah's Chapter 18 nor the KRC's own R105.2 exempt list names roofing as excused. This record states both tests without deciding which one governs a particular reroof; call the Community Development Department - Building Division at 270-444-8690 to confirm treatment of a job at the margin.

Wind design criteria

Basic ultimate wind speed 115 mph for all Kentucky counties, including McCracken County, with a 15 psf ground snow load. Kentucky replaces the model climatic table with its own "TABLE R301.2 (1) - DESIGN SNOW, CLIMATIC AND GEOMETRIC DESIGN CRITERIA FOR KENTUCKY COUNTIES." Its WIND DESIGN row reads: "Basic ultimate wind speed, V-ult shall be 115 mph (51.4 m/s) for all Kentucky counties. Topographic effects shall be investigated." McCracken County does not appear on the table's list of counties assigned the higher 20 psf ground snow load (Boone, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Floyd, Gallatin, Grant, Greenup, Henry, Kenton, Knott, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Martin, Mason, Trimble), so it carries the table's default 15 psf figure. The same table lists WEATHERING as "SEVERE for all Kentucky counties," TERMITE PROTECTION as "MODERATE TO HEAVY for all Kentucky counties," and sends seismic design to Table R301.2.2.1. Footnote d warns that Section 301.2.1.3 converts this ultimate figure to a nominal design wind speed for methods that use one - do not apply 115 mph directly to a nominal-basis calculation. Kentucky bars a local government from adopting a different residential code, so this table applies identically in Paducah.

Roof layer limit / recover

This record does not state a layer classification. Kentucky's statewide residential code amendment packet was read in full and amends nothing at an R908 section number or any other reroofing/recover provision - "R908" returns zero occurrences across the packet's text, and IRC Chapter 8 does not appear in the code's table of contents at all. No Paducah-specific instrument on the point exists, or could lawfully exist, since Kentucky bars a local government from adopting or enforcing any other building code for a one- or two-family dwelling (KRC R101.3) - and Paducah's own Section 18-31 points at the statewide code rather than varying from it. Rather than borrow a layer count from the base 2015 IRC at its own R908.3.1.1 numbering, which nobody on this project has separately opened and captured for this record, this field leaves the question open and points to the unamended base code's roof-assemblies chapter as the place the answer would come from.

Deck & sheathing requirements

No local rule, and the statewide code makes no amendment to roof sheathing. Kentucky's residential code is the 2015 International Residential Code as amended by the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition (August 2024), mandatory statewide under 815 KAR 7:125 section 2(1), and local governments including the City of Paducah are barred from adopting a different building code for one- and two-family dwellings (KRC R101.3, R102.2) - which Paducah's own Section 18-31 adoption of "the Kentucky Building Code and the Kentucky Residential Code" confirms rather than varies from. The state's own amendment packet was read in full: IRC Chapter 8 (Roof-Ceiling Construction) does not appear anywhere in the Kentucky code's table of contents, and anchored counts for "R802" and "R803" both return zero across the amendment text. The packet's only "Chapter 8" hit is a cross-reference to "815 KAR Chapter 8" (HVAC contractor licensing), not IRC Chapter 8. So the base 2015 International Residential Code's roof-sheathing provisions apply in Paducah unmodified - this record points to that chapter rather than restating span or fastening figures nobody on this project has read against a Paducah-specific instrument, because none exists to read.

Sales & use tax

6.00% statewide, with no local component anywhere in Kentucky, including Paducah and McCracken County. KRS 139.200 provides: "A tax is hereby imposed upon all retailers at the rate of six percent (6%) of the gross receipts." Kentucky's Department of Revenue states plainly: "There are no local sales and use taxes in Kentucky," and no provision of KRS Chapter 139 authorizes a county, city or district sales tax. The contractor, not the homeowner, owes the tax on materials. 103 KAR 26:070 Section 2(1) provides that "all sales to contractors, subcontractors, builders, or owners of building materials, fixtures, and supplies which are to be incorporated or fabricated into any structure or improvement to real estate by the process of erecting, remodeling, replacing, or repairing the structure or improvement are subject to the sales or use tax at the time of sale to the contractor" - roofing is named as trade item 8 and material item (k) in that same regulation's own enumerations. A roofing contractor working in Paducah pays the 6% tax when buying materials and does not separately charge sales tax to the homeowner on the finished job, which is realty rather than a retail sale.

Related guides

Denver-Metro Roofing Permits Filing a Hail Insurance Claim Colorado Hail Season Prep Hiring a Contractor

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Sources

paducahky.gov verified 2026-09-19
library.municode.com verified 2026-09-19
apps.legislature.ky.gov verified 2026-09-19
revenue.ky.gov verified 2026-09-19