Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Township of Silver Spring, PA?

Roofing questions: Township of Silver Spring, PA

Do you need a permit to replace a roof in Township of Silver Spring, PA?

No, Township of Silver Spring, PA does not require a permit to replace a roof. Silver Spring Township's Community Development Department lists non-structural roof re-shingling among projects exempt from a building permit and says any replacement of decking needs one. The department's General Permit Information sheet (dated 04-2025, read October 7, 2026), under "Projects EXEMPT from a BUILDING Permit," lists "Non-structural roof re-shingling - any replacement of decking will need a Building Permit," and its list of work that needs a building permit includes "Replacement of roof decking." The sheet asks the owner of exempt work to "complete an Exemption Form" and send it to the Township; the Permit Exemption Request form asks for a description and cost of the work and whether any load-bearing structural work is being done, and the Township marks on it whether a permit is needed. Chapter 155 of the Township Code, the Township's Uniform Construction Code ordinance, names no roof work either way; its added permit rules (Article II, Ord. No. 6-2017) reach detached residential accessory structures over 500 square feet and new sleeping areas. The Township's 2026 fee resolution (Resolution 2026-01) has no roofing line in its Single-Family/Residential schedule, which prices "Alterations, Conversions, Swimming Pools, Hot Tubs, Decks, Covered Porches, Awnings, etc." at $90 for the first $1,000 of cost; a "Roof Covering Replacement" fee of $5.00 per $1,000 appears only in its Multi-Family/Commercial schedule. The enacted text names no roof work on houses either way; the no-permit line is the department's stated practice, and this record does not decide whether it is the department's reading of the State's exclusion for house repairs. Under state law, Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6) list "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" and "Repairs to residential buildings" among work the Act does not apply to, "except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503," and 34 Pa. Code 403.62(c) says "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." 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 above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Silver Spring Township administers the code itself: Section 155-1 of the Township Code says "The Township hereby elects to administer and enforce the provisions of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act," and the Township's Community Development Department, at 8 Flowers Drive, Mechanicsburg, lists its own Building & Codes Manager, who is the building code official, and building inspectors, and says it oversees building codes, "conducting inspections, and issuing permits." The department's line, quoted at the start, falls at replacement of roof decking, which needs a building permit; no Township text sets an area or cost threshold for roof work.

Can you roof over an existing roof in Township of Silver Spring, 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, Silver Spring Township administers the code itself: Section 155-1 of the Township Code says "The Township hereby elects to administer and enforce the provisions of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act," and the Township's Community Development Department, at 8 Flowers Drive, Mechanicsburg, lists its own Building & Codes Manager, who is the building code official, and building inspectors, and says it oversees building codes, "conducting inspections, and issuing permits." Chapter 155 of the Township Code changes nothing in the code's reroofing provisions, and the department lists non-structural roof re-shingling among projects exempt from a building permit; its pages say nothing on roof layers. Section 155-2B of the Township Code says "The 2015 International Code Council (ICC) and the provisions amended by the UCC Review and Advisory Council (RAC), effective October 1, 2018, are hereby adopted by reference," and the department's pages name no code edition; the text above is the 2021 edition's, and the 2015 edition's reroofing text was not read for this record.

Do roofing contractors need a license or registration in Township of Silver Spring, PA?

Yes.

What building code does Township of Silver Spring, 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, Silver Spring Township administers the code itself: Section 155-1 of the Township Code says "The Township hereby elects to administer and enforce the provisions of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act," and the Township's Community Development Department, at 8 Flowers Drive, Mechanicsburg, lists its own Building & Codes Manager, who is the building code official, and building inspectors, and says it oversees building codes, "conducting inspections, and issuing permits." Section 155-2A adopts the Uniform Construction Code, "as amended from time to time," as the municipal building code, and Chapter 155 changes nothing in the code's roofing provisions. Section 155-2B of the Township Code says "The 2015 International Code Council (ICC) and the provisions amended by the UCC Review and Advisory Council (RAC), effective October 1, 2018, are hereby adopted by reference," and the department's pages name no code edition; this record has not read the 2015 edition's text and does not decide which edition the Township applies. Section 155-5A keeps in force building code ordinances adopted on or before July 1, 1999 that equal or exceed the code; none is published with the chapter.