Roofing in Oak Creek, Wisconsin

Not required

Required

STATE UNIFORM DWELLING CODE, ADOPTED BY A FLOATING REFERENCE, PLUS THE CITY'S OWN PERMIT AND MINOR-REPAIR SCHEME. One- and two-family dwellings in Oak Creek are built to the Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code, chs. SPS 320 to 325 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code. That code is Wisconsin's own text rather than an adoption of the International Residential Code, which is why its roofing rules read differently from the IRC and why no IRC edition year applies to a house here. City of Oak Creek Municipal Code SEC. 15.13 STATE UNIFORM DWELLING CODE ADOPTED provides: "The Administrative Code provisions describing and defining regulations with respect to one- and two-family dwellings in Chs. ILHR 20-25, Wis. Adm. Code, are hereby adopted and by reference made a part of this Section as if fully set forth herein... Any future amendments, revisions or modification of the Administrative Code provisions incorporated herein are intended to be made part of this Section to secure uniform statewide regulation of one- and two-family dwellings in this City." Chs. ILHR 20-25 is the old chapter numbering from before Wisconsin renumbered "Industry, Labor and Human Relations" chapters to "Safety and Professional Services" chapters in the early 2010s; today's equivalent is chs. SPS 320 to 325. Because the City's own adoption clause names future amendments as automatically incorporated, this is a floating reference, not a code frozen at its 1970s-80s numbering - so the current SPS 320-325 text governs a Oak Creek house. SEC. 15.13(b) Existing Buildings is the City's own answer to whether the state dwelling code reaches an existing or altered building: "The 'Wisconsin Uniform Dwelling Code' shall also apply to buildings and conditions where: (1) An existing building to be occupied as a one- or two-family dwelling, which building was not previously so occupied. (2) An existing structure that is altered or repaired, when the cost of such alterations or repair during the life of the structure exceeds fifty percent (50%) of the equalized value of the structure... (3) Additions and alterations, regardless of cost, made to an existing building when deemed necessary in the opinion of the Inspector, shall comply with the requirements of this Section for new buildings. (4) Any addition or alteration, regardless of cost, made to a building shall be made in conformity with applicable Sections of this Chapter." That is Oak Creek's own extension of the state code's reach; this record does not attempt to resolve it against the state rule's own applicability provisions at Wis. Admin. Code SPS 320.05, which could not be opened this session (repeated fetch failures) and is not quoted or characterized here for that reason. On the general permit and repair scheme: SEC. 15.10 through 15.12 set out the City's Building Code. SEC. 15.10(c) Scope reaches "the design, construction, alteration, erection, installation, addition, demolition, moving and repair of all buildings and structures." SEC. 15.12(a)(2) distinguishes "Alterations," which include work to "the structural members of floors, roofs, beams, girders, columns, bearing or other walls," from "Repairs," defined as work "for purposes of maintenance, or replacements in any existing building or structure which do not involve the structural portions of the building or structure... and which do not increase a given occupancy or use," which "shall be deemed minor repairs." SEC. 15.12(b)(1)a then states: "A permit shall be obtained by the owner or his agent from the Inspection Division for any of the following: a. Structure. All additions, alterations, or new construction of any building or structure, except minor repairs." SEC. 15.13(c)(1) then states specifically that "Replacement of roof coverings shall be considered a minor repair... No building permit is required for work to be performed which is deemed minor repair." Chapter 15 was read in full, all 50 pages (SEC. 15.01 through the Building, Electrical, Plumbing, Impact Fee and Fire Prevention subchapters), and contains no separate roofing chapter and no roof-specific sheathing, drip edge, wind, snow or impact-resistance provision anywhere in it. A separate portion of Chapter 15, headed Property Exterior Maintenance Code, requires existing roofs to be kept "sound, tight, and not have defects that admit rain" with roof materials "maintained in good repair and free from alternative materials, such as tarps." That is a property-maintenance obligation on an existing roof, not a roofing-installation or permit requirement, and is not the basis for any field in this record. Commercial, industrial and larger buildings run on a separate code track: SEC. 15.14 adopts "The Wisconsin Building, Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Code, ILHR 50 through 64 and Barrier-Free Design, ILHR 69" (today's SPS 361 to 366) for those occupancies. That commercial track is not the subject of the residential fields recorded here.