What it actually takes to re-roof a house in Belleville — whether the city wants a permit, which code edition applies, who to call at the building department, and how old the housing here really is. No sales copy dressed up as local knowledge.
Belleville runs to about 23.2 square miles and roughly 41,370 people. It sits about 14 miles southeast of downtown St. Louis. There are around 20,212 housing units here, and every one of them has a roof with a clock on it. The community dates back to 1819. We cover ZIP codes 62220, 62221, 62222, 62223, 62225 and 62226.
We have not logged a completed roof in Belleville yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.
The typical home in Belleville dates to around the early-1960s. A house of that vintage has usually been through two or three roofs. It is also old enough that what is under the shingles matters as much as the shingles: plank decking, older flashing details, and layers someone went over rather than tore off.
A mix of pre-1940 housing (about 26% of homes, including German-built row houses) and mid-20th-century construction.
Founded in 1814 and incorporated as a village in 1819, Belleville was heavily settled by German immigrants (an estimated 90% of the population was German-born or of German descent by 1870); their legacy includes 'German street house' row homes alongside later American Foursquare, Queen Anne and other Victorian-era construction concentrated in its historic districts.
The postwar housing in Belleville is mostly straightforward to roof, which is why it gets done badly so often. Decking is usually 1x6 boards or early plywood, still sound but worth walking rather than assuming. The recurring problems are the low-slope sections — porch roofs, carport tie-ins, the flat bit over an addition — where a shingle was installed below its rated pitch and has been failing quietly ever since. Attic ventilation on houses of this era is also routinely short of what current shingle warranties require, and under-venting cooks a roof from underneath. We measure intake against exhaust before we quote rather than just nailing on a ridge vent and calling it solved.
Belleville does not publish a clear answer either way on whether a like-for-like roof covering replacement needs a permit. We confirm it with the department before we start, every time, and we pull whatever is needed as part of the job. We would rather write that here than guess on your behalf.
Belleville has not published the edition it currently enforces anywhere we could verify, so this page does not name one. Editions across the metro run from the 2006 IRC to the 2024 IRC, which is a genuinely wide spread — worth asking your contractor which one they are building to.
The published number is 618-233-6817. The building official on record is Steven Thouvenot, Building Commissioner (618-233-6518 x4265). Also: Scott Tyler, Director of Health, Housing & Building (618-233-6518 x4240); James Broussard, Assistant Building Commissioner (618-233-6518 x4219). The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
Unlike some states, Missouri does not assign each municipality its own wind and snow numbers — these are metro-wide.
| Criterion | Figure | What it drives |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate design wind (Vult) | 115 mph | Fastener schedule and the manufacturer wind rating we specify |
| Nominal design wind (Vasd) | 89 mph (derived, not published locally) | The allowable-stress figure older specs quote |
| Ground snow load | 20 psf | Structure, and how much the eaves hold in a freeze-thaw |
| Frost depth | 30 in | Footings, not roof covering |
| Seismic design category | C residential / D commercial | Lateral bracing and structural connections — not shingles |
What each of these actually does to a roof, why New Madrid does not change how shingles go on, and the difference between the code minimum and the manufacturer minimum on nails per shingle, are all in the St. Louis roofing code guide.
Elsewhere in St. Clair County we also cover:
Missouri sets none of this at state level, so a specification that was right one municipality over is not automatically right here.
| City | Permit for a re-roof | Adopted code | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairview Heights | Not published | Not published | 618-489-2060 |
| O'Fallon | Not published | Not published | 618-624-4500 |
| Swansea | Yes | 2006 IRC | 618-234-0044 |
Free inspection, a written scope, and photos you keep either way.
Belleville does not publish a clear answer either way. We confirm it with the building department before starting and pull whatever is required.
The typical home in Belleville dates to around the early-1960s, so most roofs here are on their second or third covering rather than their first. That figure is an ACS-derived median republished by housing-data services, not a survey of individual roofs.
It can. Belleville has Belleville Historic District, Old Belleville Historic District, Hexenbuckel Historic District and Oakland Historic District. Inside a designated district, changing a visible roof material or colour can need preservation review before the permit is issued. Like-for-like replacement usually raises fewer questions, but we check before quoting.
Not yet. We have no completed roof logged in Belleville, and we would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.
Illinois licenses roofing contractors statewide under 225 ILCS 335, so any roofer working here needs a current IDFPR roofing licence. Missouri, across the river, does not licence roofers at the state level at all.
Permit and code details for Belleville come from the jurisdiction's own published pages and codified ordinances. Population, housing and neighbourhood detail come from census data and the sources below; housing-age figures are ACS-derived medians republished by housing-data services, so treat them as approximate. Sources: www.belleville.net · www.belleville.net · www.belleville.net · codelibrary.amlegal.com · en.wikipedia.org · censusreporter.org · www.point2homes.com. Municipal staffing, phone numbers and adopted code editions change — confirm with the jurisdiction before relying on anything here.