Jurisdiction
City of Richmond, Kentucky
Address
239 West Main Street, Richmond, KY 40475
Contact
- url: https://richmondky.gov/departments/building_inspections/index.php
- phone: 859-625-6428
Permit process note
Richmond's Building Inspection Department, in its own words: "Any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure ... shall first make application to the building official and obtain the required permit," and "Any work being completed by anyone other than the homeowner will require a City of Richmond business license." Applications are filed online through the Accela Citizen Access portal or by paper application submitted to the Department. The Department's own jurisdictional note is unusually explicit for a two-city, one-county area: "This department does not review plans or perform inspections outside of the City of Richmond limits in Madison County or the City of Berea. If you are unsure of which jurisdiction you are in, please contact us." Whether an ordinary residential reroof specifically requires its own building permit was not established by this record from a source it could open -- see roofing_permit_required (omitted) and repair_permit_threshold.
Adopted code
THE 2015 INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE, AS AMENDED BY THE 2018 KENTUCKY RESIDENTIAL CODE, THIRD EDITION (AUGUST 2024), MANDATORY STATEWIDE -- NOT A LOCAL RICHMOND ADOPTION. 815 KAR 7:125, Section 2(1): "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 Intent section, R101.3, closes the door on any local variation: "Local governments shall not adopt or enforce any other building code for detached single family dwellings, two-family dwellings and townhouses." Richmond's own Building Inspection Department confirms it enforces this state code rather than a City-written one: "The enforcement powers of the Building Inspection Department are established by the Kentucky Building Code, through a contractual agreement with the State Department of Housing, Building and Construction and the City of Richmond Code of Ordinances." (The Department's own download page mislabels this document "2018 Kentucky Residential Code, 3rd Edition"; the base edition it amends is the 2015 IRC, per 815 KAR 7:125 Section 2(1) itself.) One statewide carve-out applies to a farm dwelling located outside a municipality's boundary and meeting KRS 198B.010(4)'s other conditions, which this code does not reach at all.
Drip edge
Required — Kentucky's own enacted text, Section R905.2.8.5: "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 (51 mm). Drip edges shall extend a minimum of 0.25 inch (6.4 mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up the roof deck a minimum of 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the roof deck at a maximum of 12 inches (305 mm) on center with fasteners as specified in Section R905.2.5. Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge on gables. 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." This is mandatory statewide and Richmond may not adopt a different rule (KRC R102.2).
About drip edgeImpact-resistant roofing
Not required — A counted negative across BOTH of Kentucky's statewide construction code packets: the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code (Third Edition) and the 2018 Kentucky Building Code (Fourth Edition) contain zero occurrences of "UL 2218," "Class 4," "Class IV," "impact," or "hail." Paired with KRC R102.2's bar on any local government establishing "any additional or contradictory building construction standard than those adopted in this code," this negative reaches Richmond specifically, not only the state layer generally.
Repair permit threshold
NO ROOFING-SPECIFIC DOLLAR OR AREA THRESHOLD WAS FOUND IN ANY SOURCE THIS RECORD COULD OPEN; STATE LAW SUPPLIES TWO TESTS THAT POINT IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AND NEITHER IS ADJUDICATED HERE. Kentucky's own statute names roofing directly: KRS 198B.010(21) defines "Ordinary repair" to include "the replacement or installation of nonstructural components of the building such as roofing, siding, windows, storm windows, insulation, drywall or lath and plaster, or any other replacement, in kind, that does not alter the structural integrity," and KRS 198B.010(11) excludes "the ordinary repair of a building or structure" from the definition of "Construction" -- the term to which the state permit requirement of KRS 198B.060(8) attaches. Against that, the Kentucky Residential Code's own scope at Section R101.2 reaches "alteration ... replacement, repair," and Kentucky's own Section R105.2 exempt-work list (sheds under 200 square feet, fences, retaining walls, water tanks, sidewalks and driveways, finish work, playground equipment, window awnings, small decks) does not name roofing. Locally, Richmond's own Building Permit Fee Schedule prices every permit strictly by "Cost of Construction" (a sliding scale from a $30 minimum at $2,000 and less up to $1,280 plus $1.75 per additional thousand above $500,000) with no roofing line or threshold, and the Department's own FAQ list of work requiring a permit -- new construction; residential structural additions/alterations, occupant-load changes, and footprint changes; accessory structures; retaining walls; decks and porches; electrical; HVAC; mechanical; pools; plumbing -- names no roofing category. This record does not treat that silence as a negative: the City of Richmond Code of Ordinances chapter that would state a local roofing threshold, if one exists (Chapter 150, Building Regulations), is served by codelibrary.amlegal.com, which returned a Cloudflare/WAF challenge page (HTTP 403, 5,805 bytes) rather than content to this session.
Wind design criteria
BASIC ULTIMATE WIND SPEED 115 MPH, STATEWIDE; MADISON COUNTY GROUND SNOW LOAD 15 PSF. Kentucky's Table R301.2(1) reads: "Basic ultimate wind speed, Vult shall be 115 mph (51.4 m/s) for all Kentucky counties. Topographic effects shall be investigated." A footnote to that row directs conversion for design purposes: "See Section 301.2.1.3 for conversion to nominal design wind speeds, Vasd" -- this is an ultimate figure, not a nominal one, and the two should not be conflated. The same table lists Madison County's ground snow load at 15 psf (the table's default; only counties carrying the table's own footnote b or c, or listed at 20 psf, differ, and Madison is not among them). Weathering is listed as SEVERE and termite protection as MODERATE TO HEAVY for all Kentucky counties. This table is mandatory statewide; Richmond has no authority to adopt a different figure.
Roof layer limit / recover
NO CLASSIFICATION KEY IS SET HERE, PENDING A STANDING RULING ON HOW TO APPLY SECTION 3.8.1 IN A STATE THAT BARS A LOCAL BUILDING INSTRUMENT FROM EXISTING. Kentucky's Chapter 9 amendment packet (the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition) was read in full and amends nothing in Section R908 (Reroofing); its only Chapter 9 content is the drip-edge provision at R905.2.8.5 quoted above. Because Kentucky's own code text (R101.3, R102.2) bars Richmond from adopting or enforcing any building code of its own, there is no local Richmond instrument to independently check for a layer-count amendment or exception. The base 2015 IRC's own numbered conditions at Section R908.3.1.1 are the provision that would govern, but this record does not quote or classify them here.
Deck & sheathing requirements
NO KENTUCKY AMENDMENT TO IRC CHAPTER 8; THE BASE 2015 IRC ROOF-SHEATHING PROVISIONS APPLY UNMODIFIED, STATEWIDE. The 2018 Kentucky Residential Code's own table of contents runs Chapters 1 through 7, then 9, 11, 13 and onward -- Chapter 8 (Roof-Ceiling Construction) does not appear in it at all, and the packet contains zero occurrences of Sections R802 or R803. (One "Chapter 8" reference in the packet, at Section R101.6, points to "815 KAR Chapter 8," Kentucky's HVAC-licensing regulations -- not IRC Chapter 8 -- and is not counted here.) Since Kentucky bars Richmond from adopting a different building code (KRC R101.3), the base 2015 IRC's own deck-sheathing provisions apply unmodified and this record does not restate their content or span tables.
Sales & use tax
6.00% STATEWIDE, WITH NO LOCAL SALES TAX ANYWHERE IN KENTUCKY, AND THE ROOFING CONTRACTOR -- NOT THE HOMEOWNER -- PAYS IT AT THE SUPPLY HOUSE. KRS 139.200: "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." Under 103 KAR 26:070, Section 2(1), "All sales to contractors, subcontractors, builders, or owners of building materials, fixtures, and supplies which are to be incorporated ... 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. A roofing contractor does not charge sales tax to the homeowner on a reroofing contract; the finished roof is real property, not a retail sale.