City of Urbandale, Iowa - Community Development Department

City of Urbandale, Polk and Dallas Counties, Iowa

city

Urbandale, IA

Required

Required

Urbandale Municipal Code section 150.02 adopts the International Residential Code 2018 Edition, the International Building Code 2018 Edition and the International Existing Building Code 2018 Edition, each "hereby adopted in full except for those portions as may be hereinafter deleted, modified or amended," by Ordinance 2020-10 passed September 22, 2020. Section 150.01 titles the result the "Urbandale Building Code." The city amendments follow at section 150.03 for the residential code, 150.04 for the building code and 150.05 for the existing building code. The city also lists the 2018 International Fire Code (Municipal Code Chapter 92), the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (150.06) and the 2012 International Property Maintenance Code (Chapter 151), and enforces the state-set 2012 International Energy Conservation Code, 2024 International Mechanical Code, 2023 National Electrical Code and 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code as adopted by the State of Iowa. Note that section 150.03(B)(34) deletes all IRC appendix provisions, and 150.03(B)(24.1) deletes IRC Chapter 11 in favour of the state energy requirements. The adoption names dated editions, so a later edition does not reach Urbandale without a further act of adoption; the codification read here is the current 2026 S-31 supplement.

Required — Required, and read the second half of this note before relying on an exception. Urbandale Municipal Code section 150.03(B)(14) fills in Table R301.2(1) with "ice shield underlayment required: YES," which is the designation that switches the adopted code ice barrier provisions on. THE CITY OWN FOOTNOTE TO THAT TABLE ENTRY PROMISES AN ALTERNATIVE THAT THE CODE DOES NOT CONTAIN. The asterisk on "YES" carries the note "See amendment to IBS section 1507.2.8.2 and IRC section R905.2.7.1 regarding ice shield alternative" - IBS being an evident slip for IBC. The whole of Municipal Code Chapter 150 was read, covering sections 150.01 through 150.99 and including the complete residential amendment list at 150.03, which runs to thirty-four numbered items, and the building code amendment list at 150.04. There is no amendment to IBC section 1507.2.8.2 and none to IRC section R905.2.7.1 anywhere in the chapter; the only occurrences of either section number in the whole of Chapter 150 are inside the footnote that promises them. So on the enacted text the ice barrier requirement stands without the alternative, and a roofer intending to use an alternative assembly should get the building official position in writing first rather than rely on a cross-reference that leads nowhere. About ice & water barrier

Not required — Urbandale imposes no impact-resistance or hail-rating requirement on roof coverings. The whole of Municipal Code Chapter 150, Building Regulations, was read - the adoption at section 150.02, the thirty-four residential amendments at 150.03, the building code amendments at 150.04, the existing building code amendments at 150.05, the swimming pool provisions at 150.06 and 150.07, and the demolition and building-moving subchapters that follow. Measured across that whole chapter there is no occurrence of UL 2218, of FM 4473, or of a Class 4 or Class IV impact classification, and no requirement of that kind expressed in any other wording. To disambiguate, because the chapter does cite testing standards near this subject: the fire-resistance provisions it amends refer to ASTM E119 and UL 263, which are fire tests, and its 115 mph Table R301.2(1) entry is a wind figure. Fire resistance, wind resistance and impact resistance are established by three separate standards and none of them implies another.

Urbandale sets no dollar threshold and no square-footage threshold for roofing. It keeps the adopted code structure, under which work regulated by the code needs a permit unless the exemption list at section R105.2 reaches it, and its amendments to that list are narrow. Municipal Code section 150.03(B)(2) rewrites item 1 to read "one story detached accessory structures used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses and similar uses, provided the floor area does not exceed 120 square feet and the structure does not utilize a permanent foundation," and deletes item 2, "fences not over seven feet high" - which makes fences permit work in Urbandale rather than exempt work. Nothing in the list as amended reaches roof coverings, so roofing stays on the permit side. ONE ADDED PROVISION CAN STOP A JOB BEFORE IT STARTS AND IS WORTH CHECKING IN ADVANCE: section 150.03(B)(3) adds IRC section R105.10, which provides that "no building permits shall be issued to any person or company who has fees outstanding, or who has outstanding, unresolved violations of this Code or any other laws or ordinances of the City," with a discretion in the Building Official to waive the restriction for just cause. An unpaid fee on an unrelated job is therefore capable of blocking a roofing permit. Section 150.03(B)(10) also allows a reinspection fee where work is not ready when an inspection is called, where the inspection record card is not posted, or where access is not provided at the scheduled time.

Urbandale Municipal Code section 150.03(B)(14) fills in Table R301.2(1) for the city as follows: ground snow load 30 psf; wind speed 115 mph; seismic design category A; weathering severe; frost line depth 42 inches below grade; termite moderate to heavy; decay slight to moderate; winter design temperature -5 degrees F; ice shield underlayment required YES; flood hazards per the Flood Insurance Rate Map currently in effect for the city; air freezing index 1,833; mean annual temperature 48.6 degrees F. The Community Development Department republishes the same figures on its Building Codes page. The 115 mph figure is stated against the 2018 edition of the residential code, whose Table R301.2(1) takes an ultimate design wind speed, and it agrees with the figures Ottumwa and Mason City publish for their own jurisdictions.

Two layers maximum - one overlay is permitted, and a second existing layer requires a tear-off. Urbandale adopts the 2018 International Residential Code at Municipal Code section 150.02 and its residential amendment list at section 150.03 was read in full, all thirty-four numbered items. None of them touches the reroofing provisions: measured across the whole of Municipal Code Chapter 150 there is no amendment to section R908 or to any part of the roof assemblies chapter. The adopted code text therefore governs unchanged. Section R908.3.1.1 provides that a roof recover shall not be permitted where any of three conditions occur, the third being "where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." One existing layer may be recovered; a second forces removal of the existing covering. The other two conditions apply whatever the layer count: a covering that is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that it is not an adequate base for additional roofing, and a covering of slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile.

7% in Urbandale - the 6% Iowa state sales tax plus a 1% local option sales tax, per the Iowa Department of Revenue local option sales tax tables effective July 1, 2026. HOW IOWA TAXES A ROOF IS UNUSUAL, AND IT CUTS BOTH WAYS. Iowa Code section 423.2(6) makes a list of enumerated services taxable at the state rate, and paragraph (l) of that list reads, in its entirety, "Roof, shingle, and glass repair." Against that, section 423.3(37) exempts "the sales price of services on or connected with new construction, reconstruction, alteration, expansion, remodeling." The materials side flips with the labour side. Under section 423.2(1)(b)(1), materials sold to a contractor "for the erection of buildings and other structures or for the reconstruction, alteration, expansion, or remodeling of buildings and other structures are retail sales of tangible personal property," on which the contractor pays the tax as consumer, while materials sold "for use in repairs to or for installation in existing buildings and other structures are purchases for resale." So a job characterised as a repair carries taxable labour and resale-purchased materials, and a job characterised as reconstruction or remodeling carries exempt labour and taxed materials. Which branch a particular tear-off and replacement falls into is a fact-specific question the statute does not answer, and it changes who owes the tax rather than only how much, so settle it with an accountant rather than assume it. URBANDALE STRADDLES TWO COUNTIES AND THE ANSWER IS STILL ONE RATE. The city lies in both Polk and Dallas counties, and the Department of Revenue tables carry a separate Urbandale row under each - Dallas County with the local option in effect since July 1, 2018 and Polk County since January 1, 2020. Both rows read 1%, so the combined rate is 7% on either side of the county line and a roofer does not need to establish which county a particular address sits in for sales tax purposes. Neither row carries a sunset date.