Shelby County, Tennessee - Division of Planning and Development, Construction Code Enforcement

Shelby County, Tennessee

county

6465 Mullins Station Rd, Memphis, TN 38134

Not required

Required

Shelby County's Division of Planning and Development, Construction Code Enforcement covers the City of Memphis, the Town of Arlington, the City of Germantown, the City of Lakeland, the City of Millington, and unincorporated Shelby County (it explicitly does not cover the City of Bartlett, which enforces its own adopted code). Permits are issued to a licensed and/or registered contractor; a property owner may pull a permit for their own single-family residence under T.C.A. 62-6-103, limited to one residence per two years, not for resale, lease, or rent. For roofing specifically, a permit is required only when roof decking/sheathing is repaired or altered, or when structural or equipment supports are modified -- an ordinary reroof of a detached single-family home is exempt from permit under the county's own amended IRC Section R105.2, item 12. Online permit applications are handled through the county's Accela-hosted citizen portal.

2021 International Residential Code (IRC) with local amendments, per Joint Ordinance No. 569 of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners and the Memphis City Council (adopted 2025-02-24, effective 2025-04-01 in the City of Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County), codified as the "Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings of Memphis and Shelby County."

Required — Shelby County's own "Policy for Roof Installations" FAQ states plainly: "Does Shelby County require a drip edge? Yes, per chapter 9 of the 2021 IRC," referencing IRC Section R905.2.8.5. The county's local amendments to the 2021 IRC (Joint Ordinance No. 569) do not touch this provision. About drip edge

Not required — Shelby County's own "Policy for Roof Installations" FAQ states: "Does Shelby County require an ice and water shield (barrier)? No, per our local amendment," citing IRC Section 905.1.2. The same document states this is the only provision of IRC Chapter 9 the county has amended. The county's own Table R301.2 (Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria), as amended by Joint Ordinance No. 569, lists "Ice Barrier Underlayment Required" as "No." About ice & water barrier

Not required — Not established as a sourced affirmative. The county's own Construction Enforcement page, read in full, lists the department's inspection stages by name (Foundation, Frame, Rough-in, Rough-in piping and wall, Underground, Air test, Final) and names no stand-alone roof-covering or mid-roof inspection among them; the Frame inspection is described as occurring "after the roof, all framing, fire blocking, and bracing is in place." The county's separate Policy for Roof Installations states that a permit -- and therefore any county inspection -- is not required for an ordinary single-family reroof unless decking is repaired or altered, so there is no established mid-roof inspection stage for ordinary reroofing work.

Not required — Neither Joint Ordinance No. 569 (the county's local amendments to the 2021 IRC, 41 pages, read in full) nor the county's own "Policy for Roof Installations" (which states the ice-and-water-shield deletion is the only amendment made to IRC Chapter 9) contains any UL 2218 or Class 4 impact-resistance provision; no impact-rated roof covering requirement appears in the county's adopted code or its amendments.

No dollar-value threshold is published. The trigger is scope, not cost: Shelby County's own "Policy for Roof Installations" states "a permit is not required for a residential roof repair unless decking is damaged," and separately, "new sheathing or repair to sheathing does require a permit." An ordinary shingle repair or a full detached single-family reroof (recover or replacement of roof covering only) does not require a county permit; the moment roof decking/sheathing is repaired, replaced, or structurally altered, a permit is required (Joint Ordinance No. 569, amended Section R105.2, item 12).

Table R301.2 (Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria), as amended by Joint Ordinance No. 569 adopting the 2021 IRC local amendments: ultimate design wind speed 105 mph; topographic wind effects not required to be considered; not in a special wind region; not in a windborne debris zone.

Shelby County's own "Policy for Roof Installations" does not state a flat layer-count number itself: "How many layers of roof can I have on my house before I am required to remove existing layers? This depends entirely on-site specific circumstances and the materials used," and points installers to "IRC 2021 Section 1512.2.1" for additional direction (a pointer only -- that base-code section was not independently opened this session).

Shelby County's own "Policy for Roof Installations" states the county will allow an average of 1/4 inch gaps in existing roof decking without requiring repair; if gaps exceed an average of 1/4 inch, the deck must be repaired by filling the gaps or by overlaying with 3/8 inch (or thicker) wood structural panel sheathing per Table R503.2.1.1(1), and overlaying with 3/8 inch or thicker sheathing requires a letter from a structural engineer approving the added load on the existing structure. New sheathing or a repair to sheathing is what triggers the requirement for a permit on an otherwise-exempt reroof (see roofing_permit_required).

9.75% minimum combined rate for Shelby County, Tennessee (7% Tennessee state sales tax plus 2.25% Shelby County local option sales tax, which is Tennessee's statutory local-rate cap and applies within Memphis as well), per Avalara's published county rate table. The Tennessee Department of Revenue publishes local sales tax rates only through an interactive Tableau map tool rather than a plain readable document; Avalara is named here as the aggregator carrying the rate that mirrors that DOR tool.