Warwick Township - Planning and Zoning

Township of Warwick, Pennsylvania (Bucks County)

city

1733 Township Greene, Jamison, PA 18929

Required

Required

Warwick Township's Permits & Forms page lists reroofing among work that needs a building permit. The Township's Permits & Forms page (read October 7, 2026), under "When is a building permit required?", says "Building permits are required for all structural interior and exterior changes, including, but not limited to:" and lists "Reroofing" among them, beside items such as walkways and the replacement of HVAC components and water heaters. The same page lists "Roofing" among the permit applications that can be submitted online and posts a "Roofing Supplement" that must accompany the building permit application where it applies; that supplement, headed "Roofing and Re-roofing requirements" and dated December 2012, lists "Remove existing roof. (required if 2 layers exist)" and "Notify Code Official if any major structural repairs are required." The Township's 2026 fee schedule (Resolution No. 2026-07) has a "Re-roofing (includes dumpster permit fee)" category whose house line reads "Residential Single Family Unit (with structural change)" at $80.00. Section 62-9 B(1) of the Township Code (Ord. No. 2005-5, amended by Ord. No. 2006-2) says "All repairs and alterations to residential buildings and all repairs and alterations that increase habitable area, with the exception of certain finished basements as described below, shall comply with the Building Code of Warwick Township adopted on June 7, 2004, and any successor code adopted by the Township pursuant to Act 45 of 1999"; it names no roof work. Under state law, Act 45 says the Act "shall not apply to" "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress, except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503" or to "Repairs to residential buildings, except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503" (section 104(b)(5) and (6)), and of a municipal ordinance that adds to the code, section 503(c) says "An ordinance under this subsection shall not be effective nor enforceable unless subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (i) have been satisfied." This record does not decide whether the municipality's requirement is one adopted under section 503 or kept in effect by section 303(b)(1). In practice, expect the Township to require a building permit for a house reroof; its 2026 fee schedule charges "double the standard permit fee" for "Work Without Permit." Building permit applications are submitted in person at the Township Building, and "Select projects requiring a building permit can be submitted via our online permitting system"; the page says "Warwick does not accept faxed permit applications." The Township's telephone is (215) 343-6100; the Township Building is open 8am to 4pm Monday through Thursday and 7am to 3pm on Friday. Read for this answer: Chapter 62 of the Township Code, Construction Codes, Uniform (Sections 62-1 to 62-9), in full; Chapter 81, Fees; Chapter 138, Permits and Licenses; every page of searches of the whole Township Code for "roof" and "reroofing," which found no other permit provision naming roof work; the Permits & Forms and Planning and Zoning pages; the building permit application and Roofing Supplement; and the 2026 fee schedule.

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, Warwick Township administers the code itself: Section 62-1 of the Township Code says Warwick Township "hereby elects to administrator and enforce the provisions of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act," its Permits & Forms page says building permit applications are submitted to the Township Building at 1733 Township Greene, Jamison, and its Planning and Zoning page lists Keystone Municipal Services as the Township's Building Inspector. Section 62-2 adopts the Uniform Construction Code "as amended from time to time" as the municipal building code, and Chapter 62 changes nothing in the code's roofing provisions. Chapter 62 and the Township's pages name no edition of the International Residential Code, and Section 62-5 keeps in force, to the extent stricter than the Uniform Construction Code, the Township's 1997 adoption of the BOCA National Building Code and the CABO One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code, 1997 Edition, whose chapter of the Township Code is now reserved; this record has not read the BOCA or CABO text and does not decide which text the Township applies to roof work.

Warwick Township's Permits & Forms page lists reroofing among work that needs a building permit. The Township's Permits & Forms page (read October 7, 2026), under "When is a building permit required?", says "Building permits are required for all structural interior and exterior changes, including, but not limited to:" and lists "Reroofing" among them, beside items such as walkways and the replacement of HVAC components and water heaters. The same page lists "Roofing" among the permit applications that can be submitted online and posts a "Roofing Supplement" that must accompany the building permit application where it applies; that supplement, headed "Roofing and Re-roofing requirements" and dated December 2012, lists "Remove existing roof. (required if 2 layers exist)" and "Notify Code Official if any major structural repairs are required." The Township's 2026 fee schedule (Resolution No. 2026-07) has a "Re-roofing (includes dumpster permit fee)" category whose house line reads "Residential Single Family Unit (with structural change)" at $80.00. Section 62-9 B(1) of the Township Code (Ord. No. 2005-5, amended by Ord. No. 2006-2) says "All repairs and alterations to residential buildings and all repairs and alterations that increase habitable area, with the exception of certain finished basements as described below, shall comply with the Building Code of Warwick Township adopted on June 7, 2004, and any successor code adopted by the Township pursuant to Act 45 of 1999"; it names no roof work. Under state law, Act 45 says the Act "shall not apply to" "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress, except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503" or to "Repairs to residential buildings, except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503" (section 104(b)(5) and (6)), and of a municipal ordinance that adds to the code, section 503(c) says "An ordinance under this subsection shall not be effective nor enforceable unless subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (i) have been satisfied." This record does not decide whether the municipality's requirement is one adopted under section 503 or kept in effect by section 303(b)(1). In practice, expect the Township to require a building permit for a house reroof; its 2026 fee schedule charges "double the standard permit fee" for "Work Without Permit." 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, Warwick Township administers the code itself: Section 62-1 of the Township Code says Warwick Township "hereby elects to administrator and enforce the provisions of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act," its Permits & Forms page says building permit applications are submitted to the Township Building at 1733 Township Greene, Jamison, and its Planning and Zoning page lists Keystone Municipal Services as the Township's Building Inspector. No Township text sets an area or cost threshold for roof work; the fee schedule's house reroof line is a flat $80.00, written for a reroof "with structural change."

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, Warwick Township administers the code itself: Section 62-1 of the Township Code says Warwick Township "hereby elects to administrator and enforce the provisions of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act," its Permits & Forms page says building permit applications are submitted to the Township Building at 1733 Township Greene, Jamison, and its Planning and Zoning page lists Keystone Municipal Services as the Township's Building Inspector. Chapter 62 of the Township Code changes nothing in the code's reroofing provisions. The Township's Roofing Supplement (December 2012) says "Remove existing roof. (required if 2 layers exist)," which agrees with the two-layer rule above. Chapter 62 and the Township's pages name no edition of the International Residential Code, and Section 62-5 keeps in force, to the extent stricter than the Uniform Construction Code, the Township's 1997 adoption of the BOCA National Building Code and the CABO One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code, 1997 Edition, whose chapter of the Township Code is now reserved; the text above is the 2021 edition's, and this record has not read the BOCA or CABO reroofing text.

State rules from the base code, where the state code reaches the job. Pennsylvania adopts the 2021 International Residential Code without changing Section R803, Roof Sheathing (34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7); the State's changes to Chapter 8 are to ridge framing and attic ventilation). Lumber roof sheathing follows Table R803.1: over rafters or beams 24 inches apart it must be at least 5/8 inch net thick. Wood structural panels "shall be identified for grade, bond classification and performance category by a grade mark or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency," and their spans "shall not exceed the values set forth in Table R503.2.1.1(1) or APA E30." For shingles, "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks" (R905.2.1), and on any reroof "The structural roof components shall be capable of supporting the roof covering system and the material and equipment loads that will be encountered during installation of the roof covering system" (R908.2). 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)). Act 45 section 104(b)(5) excludes alterations "which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" and says only that "a structural change does not include a minor framing change needed to replace existing windows or doors"; 34 Pa. Code 403.62(d)(2) lists "The removal or cutting of any structural beam or load-bearing support" as not an ordinary repair. Neither names roof sheathing; this record does not decide whether replacing it is either. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Warwick Township administers the code itself: Section 62-1 of the Township Code says Warwick Township "hereby elects to administrator and enforce the provisions of the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act," its Permits & Forms page says building permit applications are submitted to the Township Building at 1733 Township Greene, Jamison, and its Planning and Zoning page lists Keystone Municipal Services as the Township's Building Inspector. Chapter 62 of the Township Code changes nothing in the code's roof sheathing provisions. The Township's Roofing Supplement says "Inspect roof sheathing and replace as needed. (Termite damaged, rotted, or undersized sheathing must be replaced)". Chapter 62 and the Township's pages name no edition of the International Residential Code, and Section 62-5 keeps in force, to the extent stricter than the Uniform Construction Code, the Township's 1997 adoption of the BOCA National Building Code and the CABO One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code, 1997 Edition, whose chapter of the Township Code is now reserved; the text above is the 2021 edition's, and this record has not read the BOCA or CABO sheathing text.

6% Pennsylvania sales and use tax, with a local tax added on purchases made in Allegheny County (1%) and Philadelphia (2%). On a reroof the roofer pays the tax on the materials and does not add it to the homeowner's bill. The Department of Revenue says: "The Pennsylvania sales tax rate is 6 percent. By law, a 1 percent local tax is added to purchases made in Allegheny County, and 2 percent local tax is added to purchases made in Philadelphia." Roof work is a construction activity: the rule's list of items "presumed to become a permanent part of real estate" includes "Roofing (repairs)" (61 Pa. Code 31.11). For construction activities, "A contractor shall pay tax upon the purchase price ... of all property, including materials, equipment, components and supplies, which he furnishes and installs" (61 Pa. Code 31.12(a)(1)), and the rule's example says the contractor "does not charge sales tax on this transaction to his customer. The contractor may include the tax he must pay in his bid proposal but not as a separately stated item." Apart from limited exceptions set out in the rule, the same holds on jobs for tax-exempt owners: "a contractor erecting a building, repairing a roof, replacing a door for a governmental agency, ... school district, charitable or religious organization, and the like, shall pay tax upon the property which he consumes" (61 Pa. Code 31.13(a)). Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Warwick Township is in Bucks County. The Township's permit pages and fee schedule say nothing on sales tax.