City of Portage Building Department

City of Portage, Indiana

city

6070 Central Avenue, Portage, IN 46368

Required

Required

WHERE. The Building Department is at Portage City Hall, 6070 Central Avenue, Portage, IN 46368, on 219-762-4204, with Tom Cherry as Director; the general City Hall line, 219-762-5425, is a different desk. Permits, contractor registration, plan review and inspections are handled in the one office. HOW. The Building Department page links its application forms online, including a Miscellaneous Permit Application and a Residential Improvement Location Permit Application, hosted on the City's forms site at portage.provenlf.com, and contractor registration and renewal are filed the same way. Section 14-82 provides that no building permit issues without "a plat or sketch of the proposed location showing lot boundaries, and by plans and specifications showing the work to be done", which is written with new work in mind, so ask what the department wants with a reroof application. Every contractor on the job must be registered before a permit issues. MONEY. Section 14-84 carries no roofing line, so the fee is whatever the department applies on request. On reinspections: "Reinspections of work found to be incomplete or not ready for inspection are subject to assessment of reinspection fees of $50.00 per reinspection." EMERGENCIES. Section 14-81(a)(1) lets emergency equipment replacements and repairs begin with the application filed the next working business day, and after the State of Emergency declared on August 11, 2026 the City also let storm contractors register and start work with ten business days to file their bond.

THE CITY ADOPTS THE STATE RULES BY REFERENCE, AND ITS ADOPTION FLOATS FORWARD WITH THEM. Section 14-80(a), Adoption of rules by reference, reads: "Building rules of the Indiana Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission as set out in the following articles of Title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code are hereby incorporated by reference in this article and shall include later amendments to those articles as the same are published in the Indiana Register or the Indiana Administrative Code with effective dates as fixed therein". Item (2) of the list is Article 14. ONE THING A READER OF THE CODE WILL NOTICE. The section dates from Ord. No. 88-8 of February 2, 1988 and still describes Article 14 by the documents it held then, the "Indiana One and Two Family Dwelling Code" and "CABO One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code; Amendments". Its own later-amendments clause carries the reference forward to whatever Article 14 now contains, and IC 22-13-2-3(b) reads a citation to the commission's rules by Indiana Administrative Code number the same way: it "shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date that the reference is written and any later amendments to that provision, unless accompanied by a reference to a specific edition or supplement to the Indiana Administrative Code." The City's Building Department page names no edition; it says only that construction is inspected for conformance "with state and local building codes." WHAT ARTICLE 14 NOW CONTAINS. The Indiana residential rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, whose opening section incorporates "the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017" and provides that "This rule shall be known as the 2020 Indiana Residential Code." It was readopted by a rule filed November 18, 2025. The State Building Commissioner's own guidance states that "The 2020 Indiana Residential Code is in full force and effect statewide." NO LOCAL ROOFING AMENDMENT. Chapter 14 of the Portage Code was read in full, all five articles, as codified through Ordinance No. 25-51, enacted December 2, 2025. It is administrative: the building commissioner and inspectors, permits, fees, inspections, smoke detectors, emergency telecommunications networks and unsafe buildings. It amends no provision of the residential code, and the word roof does not appear in it. Nor could the City write a roofing rule of its own: IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules."

Required — REQUIRED, BY THE STATE RATHER THAN BY PORTAGE. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance of February 25, 2020, on Indiana Department of Homeland Security letterhead, reproduces the provision as adopted: "R905.2.8.5 Drip edge. A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs. Adjacent segments of drip edge shall be overlapped not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall extend not less than ¼ inch (6.4 mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up back onto the roof deck not less than 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the rood deck at not more than 12 inches (305 mm) o.c. with fasteners as specified in Section R905.2.5 Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge along rake edges." The word "rood" is the guidance's own typographical error for roof, quoted as printed. 675 IAC 14-4.4 amends Section R905.2.8 only by deleting the word "approved" and does not touch R905.2.8.5. Portage has no drip edge provision of its own: Chapter 14 was read in full and contains none, and the City adopts the state rules by reference at section 14-80(a). About drip edge

Required — REQUIRED IN PORTAGE, BECAUSE PORTER COUNTY IS ON THE STATE'S ICE BARRIER LIST. Indiana replaces the model climatic table with its own county by county table: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 directs "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows", and the Porter County row carries Yes in the column headed "Ice Shield Underlayment Required". The State Building Commissioner's guidance of February 25, 2020 explains the split: "there are specific counties in which it is always required (per Table R301.2(1)), and specific counties in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it". Porter County is in the first group, so here the barrier is required by the table whatever the shingle wrapper says. WHAT THE BARRIER MUST BE, as that guidance reproduces the adopted section: "R905.1.2 Ice barriers. In areas where there has been a history of ice forming along the eaves causing a backup of water as designated in Table R301.2(1), an ice barrier shall be installed for asphalt shingles, metal roof shingles, mineral-surfaced roll roofing, slate and slate-type shingles, wood shingles and wood shakes. The ice barrier shall consist of not fewer than two layers of underlayment cemented together, or a self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen sheet shall be used in place of normal underlayment and extend from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point not less than 24 inches (610 mm) inside the exterior wall line of the building." The same section adds a 36 inch measurement along the slope on roofs of eight in twelve or steeper, and exempts "Detached accessory structures not containing conditioned floor area." Portage writes nothing of its own on this: Chapter 14 contains no ice barrier or underlayment provision. About ice & water barrier

Not required — NOT REQUIRED. Neither Portage's adopting section 14-80 nor any other provision of Chapter 14, read in full, imposes a performance rating on a roof covering; no UL 2218, Class 4 or FM 4473 impact requirement appears in the City's code. The state rule the City adopts, 675 IAC 14-4.4, makes four amendments touching the model roofing chapter and none concerns impact: it deletes the last sentence of the rooftop photovoltaic section R902.4, the word "approved" from R905.2.6 on asphalt shingle attachment and from R905.2.8 on flashing, and the word "printed" from R905.2.8.4 on other flashing. IC 22-13-2-3(c) would bar the City from adding a local mandate. Two things get mistaken for an impact mandate in Indiana: the term "Class 2 structure", which is Indiana's structure class for one and two family dwellings and says nothing about the roof covering, and an insurer's discount for an impact-rated shingle, which is a private contract term. Impact-rated shingles are an insurance and warranty decision in Portage, not a code requirement.

NO DOLLAR OR SQUARE-FOOTAGE FLOOR, AND THE CITY NAMES ROOFING AS PERMIT WORK. Section 14-81(a), headed Permit required, reads: "A permit shall be obtained before beginning construction, alteration or repair of any building or structure the installation of which is regulated by an Indiana building code." Section 14-79 applies the article to "the construction, alteration, repair, use, occupancy, maintenance and addition to all buildings and structures in the city." Chapter 14 was read in full, all five articles, and it sets no threshold and no roofing exemption anywhere. The Building Department's own page agrees rather than narrowing it: under "Typical Activities Requiring a Permit" it lists roofing alongside windows and siding, decks, porches and exterior remodeling. ONE CLAUSE WORTH KNOWING, AND ITS LIMIT. Section 14-81(a)(1) provides: "Where equipment replacements and repairs must be performed in an emergency situation, the permit application shall be submitted within the next working business day to the building department." That lets emergency work start before the application is filed, not skip it, and it is worded for equipment; this record does not decide whether an emergency roof repair falls within it, so call the department the same day. WHAT A MISSED PERMIT COSTS. Section 14-95 sends violations to the general penalty in section 1-16, which provides a fine "not to exceed $2,500.00" and makes each day of a violation a separate offense. WHAT THE PERMIT COSTS IS NOT PUBLISHED. The fee schedule at section 14-84, last amended by Ord. No. 25-32 on July 1, 2025, prices new construction, interior remodels, demolition, detached garages, signs and plumbing and carries no roofing or exterior line, so ask the department which line it applies to a reroof before quoting the permit into a job.

115 mph, from the state's county table rather than a Portage enactment. 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 deletes the model Table R301.2(1) and substitutes Indiana's own, one row per county, and the Porter County row reads wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category A, ground snow load 30 psf, foundation depth 36 inches, winter design temperature 1 degree Fahrenheit, decay slight to moderate, termite moderate to heavy, weathering severe, ice shield underlayment required Yes, air freezing index 2000 and mean annual temperature 49.6 degrees. EXPOSURE IS NOT IN THE TABLE: the footnote to the wind column reads "Wind exposure shall be determined on a site-specific basis in accordance with SECTION R301.2.1.4.", and Indiana amends that section itself at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4, so settle the exposure category for the particular address. Portage publishes no design criteria of its own, and Chapter 14 mentions wind only in its unsafe building standards. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the City from varying these figures by ordinance.

NO CITY RULE AND NO STATE AMENDMENT, SO THE 2018 INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE RULE APPLIES AS PUBLISHED. Chapter 14 of the Portage Code was read in full and contains no roof-covering provision of any kind: no layer rule, no overlay rule and no tear-off rule. The adoption at section 14-80(a) is by reference with no technical amendment attached. On the state side, 675 IAC 14-4.4 makes no amendment to the model code's reroofing section, which is not mentioned anywhere in the rule; its only amendments in the roof assemblies chapter delete one sentence from the rooftop photovoltaic section, the word "approved" from the asphalt shingle attachment and flashing sections, and the word "printed" from the other flashing section. So the base text of the 2018 International Residential Code applies, and its Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed, reads: "A roof recover shall not be permitted where any of the following conditions occur". The three conditions are an existing roof or covering that is water soaked or so deteriorated that it is "not adequate as a base for additional roofing"; an existing covering of "slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile"; and "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." In practice one existing layer of asphalt shingles in sound condition may be recovered, and a second forces a full tear-off. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the City from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules, so there is no local variation to check. Establish the existing layer count before quoting a recover rather than a tear-off.

NO LOCAL SHEATHING RULE, AND THE STATE'S ONE CHANGE TOUCHES IDENTIFICATION RATHER THAN INSTALLATION. Chapter 14 of the Portage Code was read in full and contains no sheathing or roof deck provision, so the deck under a reroof is answered by the state-adopted 2018 International Residential Code as incorporated by 675 IAC 14-4.4. That rule makes one amendment touching roof sheathing, at 675 IAC 14-4.4-82, which the rule titles "identification and grade" and which directs: "Delete the words "or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency" from the text of SECTION R803.2.1 without substitution." None of the four amendments the rule makes in the roof assemblies chapter reaches the deck. IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars the City from adding a stricter or more detailed local rule. Where a tear-off exposes damaged decking, settle the replacement with the Building Department on 219-762-4204 before the new covering goes on.

7.00% in Portage, the Indiana state sales and use tax rate, with no county or municipal add-on. The Department of Revenue's county tax page lists the taxes Indiana counties do levy, which are county innkeeper's, food and beverage and local income taxes, and states: "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." So 7.00% is the full rate a roofing contractor pays on materials purchased in Portage.