Roofing in Terre Haute, Indiana

Required

Required

The 2020 Indiana Residential Code, 675 IAC 14-4.4, which incorporates by reference the 2018 International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings, first printing August 2017, "save and except those revisions made in this rule". It was filed November 26, 2019 and readopted November 18, 2025. Terre Haute adopts it locally and does so in floating rather than frozen terms. City Code Sec. 7-6(a) provides that the "Building rules of the state fire prevention and building safety commission as set out in the following articles of Title 675 of the Indiana Administrative Code are hereby incorporated by reference in this Chapter and shall include later amendments to those articles as the same are published in the Indiana Register or the Indiana Administrative Code with effective dates as fixed therein", and its list includes Article 14, the one- and two-family dwelling codes, citing 675 IAC 14-4.4 by number. The descriptor the ordinance prints beside that citation is out of date - it still calls it the "Council of American Building Officials One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code", a title Article 14 carried under an earlier rule - but the citation is to the article by number, and the same result follows from state law independently: IC 22-13-2-3(b) provides that a reference to the commission's rules by citation to the Indiana Administrative Code "shall be construed to include all amendments as of the date that the reference is written and any later amendments to that provision, unless accompanied by a reference to a specific edition or supplement". In Indiana a local code citation floats forward by statute, the opposite of the frozen default in most states. The edition is not a local choice in any event: IC 22-13-2-3(a)(2) gives the state rules precedence over any local ordinance covering the same subject matter, and (c) bars a city, town or county from adopting an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or more detailed requirements than those rules. Two local points worth knowing. Sec. 7-6(d) separately adds the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code, which is what the City enforces against an existing roof rather than against a reroof in progress. And the Engineering Department's plan review page states a different and older list, giving its "Current Building Code followed" as "IBC 2012 edition, Mechanical 2006, Plumbing 2006, Electrical NEC 2008, Accessibility 2009, and Fire 2012". That list is addressed to the plan review process for new commercial construction and residential construction of two or more units, and names no residential code at all. A one- or two-family reroof is not a plan review project, so it is governed by the Indiana Residential Code through Sec. 7-6(a).

Permits, contractor registrations, plan review and inspection scheduling all run through one third-party portal, Cityworks, reached from the Engineering Department's online permits page; the Department describes it as letting it "sell permits, schedule inspections, license contractors, and review plans anywhere you have an internet connection", and it keeps a permit's history in one place. Applicants without internet access can use a terminal at the Engineering Department office, 17 Harding Avenue, Room 200. Card payments go through Cityworks; cash, cheque and money order are taken at the City Controller's Office at 17 Harding Avenue, Room 205. Inspections are booked from the permit's Actions tab in Cityworks and must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance. Allow three to five business days for processing. Plan review is not part of an ordinary reroof - the Department requires it only for new commercial construction or residential construction involving two or more units, including additions, and Sec. 7-32 exempts one- and two-family dwellings from the Plan Review Permit by name. Once work has started, Sec. 7-53 requires that a stage stay available for inspection until the end of the following business day after notice is received or until the inspection is made, whichever comes first, with one weather exception a roofer will use: "In the event that inclement weather requires additional construction activity in order to protect work already completed, the contractor shall notify the Department of Engineering prior to concealing any uninspected construction." A $50.00 reinspection fee can be charged where notice was not given in time and the work is no longer available to inspect. Separately, the City's property maintenance code sets a standing duty on the finished roof at Sec. 7-168(f): "The roof and flashing shall be sound, tight, and not have defects that admit rain. Roof drainage shall be adequate to prevent dampness or deterioration in the walls or interior portion of the Structure. Roof drains, gutters, and down spouts shall be maintained in good repair and free from obstructions", and it prohibits tarps and other temporary roof coverings beyond thirty consecutive days.