Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Pittsburgh, PA?

Roofing questions: Pittsburgh, PA

Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Pittsburgh, PA?

Yes, a permit is required to replace a roof in Pittsburgh, PA. The City of Pittsburgh's Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections (PLI) treats roof covering replacement on a house as permit work. Its EZ Permits (Pilot) page (https://www.pittsburghpa.gov/Business-Development/Permits-Licenses-and-Inspections/Permitting/EZ-Permits-Pilot, read October 5, 2026) lists Roofing among the residential EZ building permit scopes; EZ eligible work is "Remove and replace an existing roof covering" and "Replace flashing, underlayment, drip edge, and insulation exposed by the roofing work," and a standard Building and Development Application is needed instead where the project will "Repair or replace rafters, trusses, joists, or other structural roof parts" or "Change the roof slope, drainage, parapets, skylights, or other openings." PLI's permitting page says permits are required "To construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change the occupancy of a building, structure, and facility." Its Work Not Requiring a Permit page lists "Ordinary repairs" and then says "The following are NOT considered ordinary repairs, and require a BDA or other permit," naming cutting away walls, removing structural beams or load-bearing supports, egress changes and piping, wiring or mechanical work; it does not name roof work either way, and it says "Because every situation is unique and can be interpreted individually by the Building Code Official, we reserve the right to make exceptions to the information listed on this page." The City's own residential code amendments, Pittsburgh Code section 1002.02, rewrite the exempt-work list: "Permits shall not be required for the following," listing fences, retaining walls, water tanks, sidewalks and driveways, finish work, small prefabricated pools, playground equipment and window awnings, and adding "The list of work exempted from permits supercedes the provisions of PA Title 34, section 403.62(c)." That list names no roof work. PLI's 2026 fee schedule has no roofing line; a residential permit costs "$6.00 per $1,000 of Construction Value," with a $130 minimum. None of these documents states a square-footage or percentage line between a roof repair and a roof covering replacement. Under state law: State law sets no square-footage or percentage threshold for roof work; any threshold is set locally. The Uniform Construction Code "does not apply to" "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress, except as required by ordinances in effect under sections 303(b)(1) or 503 of the act" or to "Repairs to residential buildings, except as required by ordinances in effect under sections 303(b)(1) and 503 of the act" (34 Pa. Code 403.1(b)(8) and (9)), and "A permit is not required for the exceptions listed in § 403.1(b) (relating to scope) and the following, if the work does not violate a law or ordinance" (34 Pa. Code 403.62(c)). For houses the regulation adds: "An ordinary repair does not require a permit." Its list of work that is not an ordinary repair names cutting away a load-bearing wall, "The removal or cutting of any structural beam or load-bearing support," changes to a required means of egress, and new or relocated piping, wiring or mechanical work (34 Pa. Code 403.62(d)); roofing is not named. A municipality may require more: under Act 45 section 503(c) it "may enact ordinances pursuant to this section which adopt additional code requirements for alterations or repairs to residential buildings," after a public hearing and after filing the proposed ordinance with the Department of Labor and Industry. These rules concern a "Residential building," which the regulation defines as "Detached one-family and two-family dwellings and townhouses which are not more than three stories above grade plane in height with a separate means of egress and their accessory structures" (34 Pa. Code 401.1). Everything after "Under state law:" up to here is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, the City of Pittsburgh administers the Uniform Construction Code itself, through its Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections (PLI); its policy EP-2025-01 says "Pittsburgh has adopted the UCC and designated PLI to administer and enforce it." Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6) say the Act does not apply to "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" or to "Repairs to residential buildings," in each case "except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503," and section 503(c) says "An ordinance under this subsection shall not be effective nor enforceable unless subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (i) have been satisfied." This record does not decide whether the municipality's requirement is one adopted under section 503 or kept in effect by section 303(b)(1).

Can you roof over an existing roof in Pittsburgh, PA?

Two layers at most where the state code reaches the job. Pennsylvania adopts the 2021 International Residential Code without changing its reroofing section, R908 (34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7); the State's list of changes names no Chapter 9 section). Section R908.3.1.1 says "A roof recover shall not be permitted where any of the following conditions occur," and the third condition is "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." So one existing layer may be covered once, and a roof that already has two layers is torn off to the deck. The same section also bars a recover "Where the existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that the existing roof or roof covering is not adequate as a base for additional roofing" and "Where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile." The existing-building code the State also adopts, the 2021 International Existing Building Code (34 Pa. Code 403.21(f)), carries the same three conditions in Section 705.2.1.1. These rules bind work the Uniform Construction Code reaches. The Act does not apply to "Repairs to residential buildings" or to alterations that make no structural change, "except as might be required by ordinances" (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6)), so whether R908 binds a particular house reroof turns on that exclusion and on the municipality's own ordinances. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, the City of Pittsburgh administers the Uniform Construction Code itself, through its Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections (PLI); its policy EP-2025-01 says "Pittsburgh has adopted the UCC and designated PLI to administer and enforce it." PLI's permitting page says permits are required "To construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change the occupancy of a building, structure, and facility," and its EZ permit page lists Roofing, "Remove and replace an existing roof covering," as a residential EZ building permit scope. Pittsburgh Code section 1002.02 does not amend the reroofing section, and the EZ roofing scope is written for removing and replacing an existing roof covering; the PLI pages read for this record state no rule on roof layers.

Do roofing contractors need a license or registration in Pittsburgh, PA?

Yes.

What building code does Pittsburgh, PA use?

The 2021 International Residential Code, as adopted by the State in the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code (UCC). 34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7) adopts "The 'International Residential Code of 2021,' except that:" followed by the State's list of exclusions and modifications, effective January 1, 2026 (55 Pa.B. 7701). None of the State's changes touches Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, or Section R803, Roof Sheathing, so those apply as the International Code Council publishes them. Work on existing buildings is also pointed to the State's existing-building code: "The repair, alteration, change of occupancy, addition and relocation of existing buildings must comply with Chapter 34 of the 'International Building Code of 2021' or with the 'International Existing Building Code of 2021'" (34 Pa. Code 403.21(f)). The UCC is the minimum everywhere in the state: "no municipality may propose or enact any ordinance which is less than the minimum requirement of the Uniform Construction Code" (Pennsylvania Construction Code Act, Act 45 of 1999, section 503(b)). The Act also lists work it "shall not apply to", including "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" or to "Repairs to residential buildings," in each case "except as might be required by ordinances" kept in force under section 303(b)(1) or adopted under section 503 (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6); 34 Pa. Code 403.1(b)(8) and (9)). The Act defines a repair as "The reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing building for the purpose of its maintenance." So whether the code's roofing rules reach a given house reroof depends on the municipality's own ordinances. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, the City of Pittsburgh administers the Uniform Construction Code itself, through its Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections (PLI); its policy EP-2025-01 says "Pittsburgh has adopted the UCC and designated PLI to administer and enforce it." Pittsburgh Code section 1001.08 says the Uniform Construction Code, "as amended from time to time, is hereby declared to be part of this Title." Section 1002.01, as codified (Ord. 9-2004), still adopts the codes "being particularly the 2003 Edition," and the City's amendments in section 1002.02 are written against the 2003 codes. PLI says "While the City Ordinances reference specific 2003 I-code code sections, these amendments are enforced by PLI based on the code provision and/or topic," and its policy EP-2025-01 (revised December 15, 2025) says "The PCC identifies amendments to specific sections of the 2003 ICC base codes because these codes were in effect when Pittsburgh adopted the UCC" and that from January 1, 2026 "PLI shall apply and enforce the 2021 ICC base codes and the 2018 ICC accessibility provisions" to accepted applications. Section 1002.02's only mention of roofs is the ground snow load used to design them (Building Code Section 1608.2); its residential code amendments do not touch Chapter 9. PLI's permitting page says permits are required "To construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change the occupancy of a building, structure, and facility," and its EZ permit page lists Roofing, "Remove and replace an existing roof covering," as a residential EZ building permit scope.