St. Louis Ice & Water Shield

I contacted the Saint Louis Building Department and was told that is required 18" from a heated wall. I cannot seem to get anyone to get me a letter stating that it is required, if they go by the 2009 Residential Code, it says the average temp in Jan would have to be below 25 degrees. Which is of course not the case. Does anyone have anything stating that it is required here... or was the Building Department incorrect?

Look at CertainTeed's Shingle Warranty, top of page 5. Then look at CertainTeed's Landmark installation instructions, page 1 and 5.

Tamko specifies it in the valleys, OC specifies it on the eaves and in the valleys too. If your roof leaks due to ice damming and there is no ice and water shield, the manufacturer is not responsible. In St. Louis, where you can have anywhere from 1/2" to 1.5' of snow sitting on your roof for weeks at a time, you need ice and water shield. It's not just the manufacturers either, all architectural specifications have ice and water shield as a requirement.

Yes, please

Whether it's required or not you should use ice & water shield along the eave on any roof that's less than a 9/12 pitch. It's because of the ice damming problem here. I'm not saying it's code, but it is required for a warranty on the shingles. You'll be shooting yourself in the foot if you don't use it.

I've been working in st Louis over 10 years and never heard that it was code to.

The building official can make any ammemdments he/she so feels applicable, so long as minimum IBC/IRC are maintained....That being said....

When applying for a permit, I always inquire if the particular municipality has adopted any ammendments to the bldg. codes....If there are none, they would have a hard time unitaterally dreaming-up some.

Interesting. I thought it was 24". Code or not, I'd go 24" for the client, not the 18" for the BI.