Roofing in Ralston, Nebraska

Required

Required

Ralston publishes its own list of adopted codes on its Permits & Licenses page, under the heading "Current Adopted Building Codes": the 2018 International Building Code, the 2018 International Residential Code, the 2021 Ralston Plumbing Code, "The National Electrical Code, 2023 (NFPA 70, 2023)", the 2018 International Mechanical Code, the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code, the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code and the 2018 Property Maintenance Code. Note the plumbing entry: Ralston runs its own named plumbing code rather than an ICC edition. The enacted adoptions are in Chapter 9, Building Regulations, of the Ralston Municipal Code, which was read in full. The one that governs a house roof is Section 9-501.01, Residential Building Code; Adopted by Reference (added by Ord. No. 1086, 3-22-2004; amended by Ord. No. 1134, 4-1-2008; amended 2-2-2021 by Ord. No. 1278). It adopts "the International Residential Code, 2018 Edition" with local amendments "attached hereto, marked Exhibit A", and it makes the Residential Code as amended "controlling throughout the Municipality and throughout its zoning jurisdiction". The City's code library publishes Exhibit A as 9 Attachment 1, Residential Code Amendments, headed "2018 International Residential Code Amendments" and "Adopted 2-2-2021 by Ord. No. 1278", and it too was read in full. In the roofing chapter it makes these changes. Section R903.4, Roof Drainage, gains a paragraph requiring scuppers or gutters and downspouts where a roof drains over the edge, with rainwater discharged at least three feet from the building foundation, and parallel to the adjoining property line where the discharge point is within 20 feet of it; structures with no sub-grade spaces are excepted. Section R905.2.5, Fasteners, allows corrosion-resistant staples (minimum 16 gage, 15/16-inch crown) where the manufacturer approves them. Table R905.2.8.2 changes galvanized steel valley lining from 26 gage to 28, and Sections R905.3.8 (Flashing), R905.7.6 and R905.8.8 (both Valley flashing) lower their sheet-metal minimum from No. 26 gage, 0.019 inches, to No. 28 gage, 0.018 inches. The amendments also delete Sections R908.3.1, Roof recover, and R908.4, Roof recovering, and add Section R908.3.1.1: "A roof recover is not allowed." The other codes on the City's list carry their own adopting sections and ordinance histories: the 2018 International Building Code at 9-501 (last amended 5-17-2022 by Ord. No. 1307, with its local amendments codified at 9-501A); the 2021 Ralston Plumbing Code at 9-701 (amended 5-4-2021 by Ord. No. 1282); the National Electrical Code "as revised and adopted by the Nebraska State Electrical Board" at 9-801 (amended 5-2-2023 by Ord. No. 1320); the 2018 International Mechanical Code at 9-802 (amended 8-2-2022 by Ord. No. 1310); and the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code at 9-901 (amended 4-5-2022 by Ord. No. 1305).

Ralston files building permits through its own online Citizen Portal, reached from the City's Permits & Licenses page; the City states that "Paper applications are available by request to Dan Freshman or in person at City Hall." The contact is Dan Freshman, Building and Safety Director and Chief Building Official, on 402-331-6677 extension 1310, at 5500 S 77th Street, Ralston, NE 68127. Fees, from the City's 2024 Master Fee Schedule: a $25.00 issuance fee for a Building Permit/Accessory Use; a permit fee on total valuation starting at $41.00 for $1.00 to $2,000 and stepping up by bracket; and a technology fee of $25.00 on a total permit fee of $0 to $499.00, $50.00 from $500.00 to $2,499.00, and $75.00 at $2,500 and above. Plan review is $30.00 an hour with a one-hour minimum for additional review, $300.00 for engineer review, and $100.00 or 10% of fee for commercial and multi-family review. Refunds are "70% within 180 days if work has not commenced" on a permit with plan review and "90% within 180 days if work has not commenced" without, and plan review, engineer review and inspection fees are non-refundable. Ralston also publishes driveway and curb cut information and a deck-plan requirement sheet on the same page.

Ralston does not charge for the inspections a permit actually needs, and it does charge for the ones it should not have needed. Its 2024 Master Fee Schedule sets out, under "Inspection Fees": "Initial required inspection - No Charge"; "First additional inspection - No Charge"; "Second inspection, each additional thereafter - $50.00"; and "After hours inspections, if available - $100/hr (min 1 hour)". So a re-roof that passes, or passes on one re-check, costs nothing in inspection fees, and every re-inspection after that is $50.00. The City's own codified Building Regulations chapter (Chapter 9, hosted on ecode360.com -- its standard content route serves an empty page shell, but its print route, fetched with the chapter's own node id, serves the real text) was fetched and read in full, and states the City's inspection sequence at Sec. 9-104 ("Building Inspector; Time of Inspection"): the Building Inspector, on notice from the permit holder, makes four inspections in order -- Foundation and Ground Work (after trenches are excavated and forms erected), Sewer Line and Sewer Tap (before the line is covered), Rough-in (made "after the roof, framing, fire-blocking, and backing is in place and all pipes, electrical wiring, chimneys, and vents are complete"), and Final (after the building is completed and ready for occupancy) -- and it is unlawful to proceed past any of those points without the Building Inspector's written approval. That sequence names no separate roof-covering or mid-roof inspection stage of its own; the roof structure being complete is a precondition the Rough-in inspection checks for, not a roofing inspection in its own right. The City's separately-adopted 2018 IRC amendments (Ordinance No. 1278, read in full from the City's own posted amendment document) do not touch Section R109 (Inspections) at all -- so the base 2018 IRC's own inspection article governs unmodified, and this record does not restate that unread text. The City's permit portal is where inspection results are published to the permit holder. Ask when the permit is issued.