Paulding County, Georgia - Community Development Department, Building & Permitting Division

Paulding County, Georgia

county

Dallas, GA

Not required

Required

Applications are made to the Building & Permitting Division in the Government Administrative Building at 240 Constitution Boulevard, first floor, Dallas, GA 30132, or by downloading an application from the County's Forms & Documents area under Building & Permitting; the Division's number is 770-443-7571. Code section 18-61 puts the duty to apply on the owner, authorised agent or contractor. A permit carries the right to do only the work shown on the drawings and specifications filed with it, and separate permits are required for anything not covered by them, under section 18-63. Section 18-66 governs time limits and section 18-71 fees, which are set by the board of commissioners' published schedule; the County also publishes residential and commercial permit fee calculators online. Once a permit is issued the card must be posted conspicuously on the premises, protected from the weather, before work starts, and must stay posted until the certificate of occupancy or completion issues. Inspections are those listed in section 18-72(f) plus any others the building official finds necessary, and a re-inspection fee may be charged where the failure is the builder's fault. Reports from a private professional provider may be accepted under O.C.G.A. 8-2-26. Appeals from a decision of the building official go to the County's construction board of adjustment and appeals under sections 18-121 through 18-133.

STATE-SET, LOCALLY ENFORCED. 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. Paulding County does enforce it, and its Code says so in the plainest terms available: section 18-31(a) provides that the County "shall enforce, in all respects, the certain Georgia State Minimum Standard Building Codes", and 18-31(b) that it "shall enforce the latest edition of the following current mandatory codes as adopted and amended by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs", listing nine, the International Residential Code among them. That is a floating adoption, so the County moved to the 2024 editions on January 1, 2026 without passing an ordinance of its own. Two local points matter. APPENDIX U IS NOT ADOPTED: section 18-31(c) adopts by reference "the following current permissive codes as adopted and amended by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs" and names exactly two, the International Property Maintenance Code and the International Existing Building Code. The Department of Community Affairs lists the Disaster Resilient Building Code IRC Appendix - Appendix U - among the permissive codes a local government may adopt, and Paulding County's enumeration does not include it, so its enhanced roof-deck sealing and shingle fastening do not apply here. And Paulding fills in the Residential Code's own climatic and geographic criteria table: section 18-31(d)(3) revises Table 301.2(1) by adding, among other entries, a ground snow load of 5 pounds per square foot, "Wind speed (fastest mile) - 90", seismic design category B, moderate weathering, a frost line depth of 12 inches minimum, very heavy termite damage, a 22 degree Fahrenheit winter design temperature, "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required - No", flood hazards yes, an air freezing index of 225 and a mean annual temperature of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Section 18-31(e) preserves the code edition in force when a project was approved for permits granted under earlier versions. The technical-codes article dates from Resolution No. 99-14 of February 9, 1999 and was last amended by Ordinance No. 24-01, adopted January 23, 2024; the Code of Ordinances is codified through Ordinance No. 25-07, enacted December 9, 2025.

Required — STATE-GOVERNED, NOT LOCALLY SET, and it applies in Paulding County 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 here whether or not the local government chooses to enforce it locally. Paulding County does enforce it, and its Code says so in a floating adoption: section 18-31(a) provides that the County "shall enforce, in all respects, the certain Georgia State Minimum Standard Building Codes", and section 18-31(b) that it "shall enforce the latest edition of the following current mandatory codes as adopted and amended by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs", naming the International Residential Code among nine. The edition currently carried by that floating adoption is the 2024 International Residential Code with the Georgia Amendments 2026, effective January 1, 2026. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs amendment packet for the 2024 Residential Code carries no amendment to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies: the packet was opened in full for this entry, all 43 pages of it, and measured rather than skimmed, at zero occurrences of any R9-hundred section number and zero of the phrase "Chapter 9". So the Chapter 9 drip-edge provision at Section R905.2.8.5 stands as written for Georgia. The County's own building instrument was re-opened in full for this entry and not taken from an earlier report: Chapter 18 of the Paulding County Code of Ordinances, Buildings and Building Regulations, all seven articles and all 79 documents of it, from section 18-1 through the abatement article, searched on anchored terms with zero hits for "drip", zero for "R905", zero for "shingle" and zero for any 905-series section number. Section 18-31(d) is where the County writes its own amendments to the technical codes, and its Residential Code subsection, 18-31(d)(3), does exactly two things: it revises Table 301.2(1) in Chapter 3 by filling in eleven blanks, and it includes Section 105.2, Work exempt from permit, by reference. Neither reaches a roof covering, and there is no amendment to Chapter 9 of the Residential Code anywhere in Chapter 18. ONE THING IN THAT CHAPTER LOOKS LIKE A ROOFING AMENDMENT AND IS NOT: subsection 18-31(d)(2)e, which reads "Chapter 9. Section 903.1 Roof Extensions. Insert: 6-inches", sits inside the County's amendments to the International PLUMBING Code, between its water-efficiency amendments and its reclaimed-water amendments. That is the plumbing code's vent chapter and its rule on how far a vent must extend above a roof. It has nothing to do with roof coverings, and it is not an amendment to the Residential Code. APPENDIX U IS NOT ADOPTED. The Department of Community Affairs adopts Appendix U, Disaster Resilient Construction, as optional, so it reaches a Georgia jurisdiction only by that jurisdiction's own act. Section 18-31(c) adopts by reference "the following current permissive codes as adopted and amended by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs" and names exactly two, the International Property Maintenance Code and the International Existing Building Code. Appendix U appears nowhere in Chapter 18, so it is not enforceable in Paulding County. Note what Appendix U is and is not: section AU101.3.1 provides that its provisions "are not mandatory unless specifically referenced in an adopting ordinance" and that where they are adopted "the provisions shall apply to all new development and to substantial improvements to existing development", so it is a new-development and substantial-improvement appendix rather than a rule about how an ordinary reroof is installed. 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 Paulding County unamended. ONE PRACTICAL WARNING, BECAUSE NOT EVERY PAULDING REROOF IS INSPECTED. Section 18-64 provides that "Ordinary minor repairs and minor improvements may be made with the approval of the county building official without a permit, provided that such repairs shall not violate any of the provisions of the technical codes." Section 18-31(d)(3)(ii) separately includes the Residential Code's own Section 105.2, Work exempt from permit, by reference. Where a scope falls inside either exemption, the exemption removes the inspection and not the requirement, and section 18-64 says so in its own final clause. O.C.G.A. 8-2-25(a) says the same thing from the state side: the mandatory codes bind the construction whether or not the local government enforces them. Build the drip edge in whether or not anyone is coming to look at it. About drip edge

Not required — Paulding County has answered this one for itself, which most Georgia jurisdictions have not. The Residential Code leaves its Table 301.2(1) of climatic and geographic criteria to be filled in by the adopting jurisdiction, and Paulding County Code section 18-31(d)(3) does exactly that, revising the table "by adding the following information to the blank spaces" and giving, as item h, "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required - No." That entry is what switches the Code's ice-barrier provision on or off, so no ice barrier or ice-and-water-shield membrane is required by code on a Paulding County roof. The Georgia State Amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code make no change to the Code's roofing chapter and so do not disturb it. Two practical caveats that are not code requirements: a shingle manufacturer's own instructions may still call for an eave membrane as a condition of its warranty, and the County's answer says nothing about what a particular roof needs at a valley, a low slope or a north-facing eave. The table entry was last amended by Ordinance No. 24-01, adopted January 23, 2024. About ice & water barrier

Not required — No mid-roof, dry-in or in-progress roofing inspection is required. Paulding County Code section 18-72(f) lists the inspections the county building official will make, by trade, and the building list has three stages and no roofing stage: a foundation inspection "To be made after trenches are excavated and forms erected", a frame inspection "To be made after the roof, all framing, fire blocking and bracing are in place, and all concealing wiring, all pipes, chimneys, ducts and vents are complete", and a final inspection "To be made after the building is completed and ready for occupancy". The electrical, plumbing and mechanical rough-in inspections are each likewise made only after the roof is in place, so the roof is a precondition of other stages rather than a stage of its own. The same subsection lets the building official make "such other inspections as necessary", and section 18-72(c) allows reports of private professional providers under O.C.G.A. 8-2-26. On a reroof that needs no permit there is no County inspection at all. A re-inspection fee may be charged where a property fails an inspection at the fault of the builder.

Not required — No impact-resistant or hail-rated roof covering is required in Paulding County. Neither the Georgia State Amendments packet to the 2024 International Residential Code nor Chapter 18 of the Code of Paulding County 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 the County's building chapter, read in full across all nine articles, amends the Residential Code only through the climatic and geographic criteria table, which carries no impact entry. Paulding County has not adopted Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, whose roofing content is about fastening and water barriers rather than impact in any event. An insurer may still offer a premium credit for an impact-rated shingle in the Atlanta hail belt, but that is an insurance matter and not a code requirement here.

CITY-SPECIFIC AND SIMPLE: THE TEST IS STRUCTURAL WORK, AND SHEATHING COUNTS AS STRUCTURAL. The County's Building & Permitting frequently-asked-questions page answers the question directly. Asked "Do I need a permit for roofing or siding replacement?", Paulding County answers: "If structural work is involved, such as replacing sheathing, rafters, trusses, or studs, a permit is required. If no structural work is to be performed, roofing and siding work (i.e. replacing shingles, repairing siding) may be done without a permit." PRACTICAL EFFECT: a like-for-like strip-and-replace in shingles needs no Paulding County building permit, whatever it costs, but the moment you replace sheathing - not just rafters or trusses - you are doing structural work in this county's published view and a permit is required. That is a lower trigger than many jurisdictions set, because it does not come with a square-foot allowance. On the ordinance side the background rule is broader and the exemption is what narrows it: Code section 18-61 requires anyone who desires to "construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure" to apply for and obtain a permit, while section 18-64 provides that "Ordinary minor repairs and minor improvements may be made with the approval of the county building official without a permit, provided that such repairs shall not violate any of the provisions of the technical codes". Note that the 18-64 allowance is not automatic - it turns on the building official's approval - and that section 18-31(d)(3)(ii) also includes the Residential Code's own Section 105.2, "Work exempt from permit", by reference. Neither exemption relaxes the construction code: the work must still be built to the adopted code even where no permit is pulled. If the job does need a permit, section 18-72(e) requires the permit card to be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises, protected from the weather, before work commences.

READ THE BASIS BEFORE USING THE NUMBER. Paulding County publishes a wind figure of its own, which most Georgia jurisdictions do not, but it publishes it in an older averaging basis. Code section 18-31(d)(3) revises the Residential Code's Table 301.2(1) by filling in its blank spaces, and item b reads "Wind speed (fastest mile) - 90." Fastest-mile wind speed is a different measurement basis from the three-second gust that modern editions of the Residential Code and ASCE 7 use, and different again from the ultimate design wind speed those documents tabulate, so 90 miles per hour fastest mile is NOT interchangeable with 90 miles per hour three-second gust and must not be plugged into a fastening or uplift calculation that expects one of the newer bases. This record states the County's own figure and its stated basis and does not convert it. The same table entry gives a seismic design category of B and a ground snow load of 5 pounds per square foot. The Georgia State Amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code carry only one wind figure in the mandatory chapters and it is not a design value: an exception to the foundation-anchorage section that applies where the basic wind speed does not exceed 115 miles per hour and the seismic design category is A or B. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, whose Chapter AU4 offers an adopting jurisdiction a choice of minimum wind speeds, is not adopted in Paulding County. Confirm the design wind speed and exposure category with the Building & Permitting Division on 770-443-7571 before designing to a number. The table entry was last amended by Ordinance No. 24-01, adopted January 23, 2024.

Set by the state code, not by Paulding County. The residential code in force is the 2024 International Residential Code with the Georgia Amendments 2026, and 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 18 of the Code of Paulding County, Buildings and Building Regulations, was read in full - all nine articles and every one of their sections - and its only amendment touching the Residential Code is the table of climatic and geographic criteria in section 18-31(d)(3), which sets snow, wind, seismic, frost, termite, temperature, ice-barrier, flood and air-freezing values and says nothing about roof coverings or how many layers of them may remain. No Paulding County ordinance limits the number of roof-covering layers. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction is not adopted here, so nothing in that appendix bears on the question either.

Set by the state code, but Paulding County has drawn a local line about the deck that a roofer needs to know. On the technical side 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 18 of the Code of Paulding County, read in full, writes no roof-deck or sheathing specification of its own. On the permit side, the County names sheathing first among the things that make a roof job structural: asked whether a permit is needed for roofing or siding replacement, it answers that "If structural work is involved, such as replacing sheathing, rafters, trusses, or studs, a permit is required." So replacing decking on a Paulding County reroof takes the job from no-permit to permit, with no square-footage allowance stated. Appendix U Disaster Resilient Construction, which carries the enhanced deck-sealing and shingle-fastening provisions, is not adopted in Paulding County - section 18-31(c) adopts only two permissive codes and that appendix is not one of them - so those do not apply here.

7% in Paulding County. The Georgia Department of Revenue's rate chart in force for July 1 through September 30, 2026 lists jurisdiction code 110 "Paulding" at 7%, combining the 4% Georgia state rate with the local components the chart marks LOST, Educational and SPLOST. The Department of Revenue has already published the chart taking effect on October 1, 2026 and the Paulding row is unchanged at 7% in it, so the figure holds through that reissue. Paulding is not one of the Georgia counties that splits by city, so the same 7% applies in Dallas and Hiram as in the unincorporated county. For the roofer, 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.