Roofing in West Haven, Connecticut

Required

The 2021 International Residential Code, as amended by the State in the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code, which "shall apply to all work for which a permit application was made on or after the date of adoption"; the Department of Administrative Services applies it to projects with permit applications filed from October 1, 2022. Connecticut has one building code for every municipality: "The State Building Code, including any amendment to said code adopted by the State Building Inspector and Codes and Standards Committee, shall be the building code for all towns, cities and boroughs" (C.G.S. 29-253(a)). A town does not adopt or amend the code itself. It "may propose amendments to the State Building Code," and an amendment may be restricted to one municipality only "where it is alleged and established that conditions exist within a municipality which are not generally found within other municipalities"; each amendment is adopted by the State (C.G.S. 29-254(a)). The residential portion makes no town-specific change to the roofing rules; its only town-by-town content is Appendix AY, the State's table of wind speeds and snow loads for each municipality. A building official's own policies "shall not have the effect of waiving requirements specifically provided for in this code, nor shall they have the effect of establishing requirements in excess of those set forth in this code" (CT IRC R104.1). The State's changes to the roof chapter add one rule: "A minimum 4-inch-wide (102 mm) strip of self-adhering polymer-modified bitumen membrane complying with ASTM D1970, installed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions for the deck material, shall be applied over all joints in the roof decking" (CT IRC R905.1.1). The section's exceptions allow self-adhering ASTM D1970 underlayment instead, and drop the strips "for roofs sheathed with lumber having a nominal width of less than 3 feet." Everything above is Connecticut state law, the same in every municipality. In West Haven the Building Department enforces the code: the department's own page says it issues permits for and inspects work done to all buildings and other structures in the city, and that its applications are processed through its online portal.