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Central Roof Repair · Hiring & Compliance

There is no Kentucky roofing contractor license. The state licenses several construction trades, and roofing is not one of them — so when a contractor in Lexington or Richmond says he is “licensed,” the honest follow-up question is licensed by whom, and for what. A bill filed in the 2026 session would change that. As of today it has not.

Does Kentucky license roofing contractors?

No. The state agency responsible for building construction licenses four construction specialties and building inspectors, and roofing appears on none of those lists.

The Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction describes its own remit this way: it “enforces statewide standards for building construction,” ensures fire and life safety in existing buildings, and “licenses/certifies plumbers, electricians, boiler contractors, sprinkler and/or fire alarm contractors and building inspectors.” Plumbing, electrical, boilers, fire suppression, inspectors. No roofing.

That is a statement about state licensure only, and it is worth being precise about what it does not mean. It does not mean roofing work is unregulated. Kentucky’s residential and building codes still apply to the work itself, local governments still issue permits where their ordinances require them, workers’ compensation law still applies to employees, and a contractor still owes you whatever the contract says. What is missing is a single state credential a homeowner can look up.

What can a homeowner actually verify today?

Four things, all of them real documents rather than claims. None of them is a roofing licence, and together they are a better filter than one would be.

What to ask for	Why it is checkable
Certificate of general liability insurance, issued by the carrier	Ask that it be sent by the insurance agency rather than handed to you. The certificate names the insured, the policy period and the limits.
Proof of workers’ compensation coverage	If the crew are employees, this is the document that keeps an injury on the roof from becoming a claim against your homeowner’s policy.
Local contractor registration, where the jurisdiction has one	Lexington-Fayette runs a registration process through its Division of Building Inspection. Its contractor registration page requires an occupational business licence, a Home Office Certificate or Certificate of Occupancy, and general liability plus workers’ compensation insurance with the urban county government listed as certificate holder.
A written scope, not a one-line total	The quote should name the system, the underlayment, the flashing work and the ventilation plan, because that is what distinguishes two bids that look identical on price.

Two credentials you may be shown are real but voluntary, and should be read as such. Manufacturer certifications — the ones that gate the stronger workmanship warranties — are issued by the shingle or membrane maker, not by Kentucky. Trade-association programmes are likewise private: the Kentucky Roofing Contractors Association publishes a contractor certification of its own. Voluntary is not worthless; it simply is not a state licence, and nobody should present it as one.

What is House Bill 150, and where does it stand?

It is a 2026 session bill that would create a state roofing contractor licence. Its last recorded action was a committee referral in January, and we are reporting status only — not predicting an outcome.

The Legislative Research Commission record for 2026 RS House Bill 150, “AN ACT relating to roofing contractors,” sponsored by D. Grossberg, shows two actions: introduced in the House on 01/07/26 and referred to Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations on 01/14/26. That referral is the last action on the record. The bill record is a live public document and it updates itself; check it rather than this page if the question matters to a decision you are making.

What the bill as filed would require is worth knowing, because it is a fair description of the gap the current system leaves:

Provision in HB 150 as filed	Detail
Who would be licensed	Anyone, including a subcontractor, who in the ordinary course of business engages in or solicits commercial or residential roofing services for a fee, including alteration, construction, installation, maintenance, renovation, repair and waterproofing (Section 1)
Who would be exempt	Persons engaged in demolition or cleanup of construction waste containing roofing material, and persons working under the direct supervision of the roofing contractor as an employee, day labourer or contract labourer (Section 1)
Administering agency	The department, which would administer and enforce the act and evaluate applicant qualifications (Section 3)
Examination	A nationally recognised examination, validated to measure competency, offered on a regular schedule around the state (Section 6)
Insurance floor	Proof of compliance with workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance law, plus general liability of not less than $500,000 (Section 5)
Fee ceilings	Initial application not to exceed $200; renewal not to exceed $200; duplicate licence not to exceed $25; reinstatement not to exceed $100 (Section 4)
Public register	The department would maintain a current register of licence holders as a matter of public record, and a complaint process (Section 4)
Enforcement	Refusal, suspension, revocation, probationary conditions, administrative fines, and injunctive relief in Franklin Circuit Court or the circuit court where the violation occurred (Sections 3 and 8)

The line in that table a homeowner should notice is the public register. The reason “is he licensed?” is hard to answer in Kentucky today is not that nobody keeps records — it is that there is no single list to search.

One observation from Central Kentucky roofs

We are a roofing contractor in this market, so take this as a disclosed interest: the absence of a state licence is the reason the paperwork questions matter more here than they would in a licensing state. The pattern worth naming is seasonal. Storm seasons bring crews into Central Kentucky from outside it, and the honest ones and the rest carry exactly the same state credential, which is none. In that environment the certificate of insurance sent directly by the agency, the workers’ compensation proof, and a scope written in enough detail to be compared are doing the work a licence would otherwise do. Asking for all three is not an insult to a good contractor; it is the only filter available.

Questions homeowners ask

If roofing is not licensed, does my roof still have to meet code?

Yes. Licensure of the contractor and the code requirements for the work are two separate things. Kentucky’s adopted codes set requirements for roof assemblies and the structural loads behind them — see the notes on slope and roof-covering limits in the Kentucky code and design wind speed and snow load by county.

Do I need a permit to replace a roof in Kentucky?

That is a local question, and the answer differs between a merged urban county and a rural county. Ask the city or county building department that covers the address, before the work starts rather than after.

Does a contractor’s certification from a manufacturer mean the state approved him?

No. Manufacturer certifications are issued by the materials maker and typically gate that maker’s enhanced workmanship warranty. They are a genuine signal about training and warranty eligibility, and they are not a Kentucky licence.

Where do I check the status of HB 150 myself?

The Legislative Research Commission bill record at apps.legislature.ky.gov is the primary source and it updates as actions are recorded. Reporting a bill’s status is not a prediction that it will pass.

Last updated: October 3, 2026

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

General information about Kentucky licensure and a pending bill, current as of October 3, 2026. Not legal advice, and not a prediction of any legislative outcome. Verify the bill’s current status with the Legislative Research Commission and licensure questions with the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction.

Central Roof Repair · Diagnostics

When a roof leaks in heavy rain but stays perfectly dry through a two-hour drizzle, the roof almost never has a simple hole in it. It has a defect that needs a driver — enough water volume to overwhelm a drainage path, or enough wind to push water somewhere gravity would never take it. That distinction is not academic. It decides where you look, and it is the reason intermittent leaks get misdiagnosed and “repaired” twice before anyone finds them.

Why would a roof leak in heavy rain and not light rain?

Because most roof assemblies drain rather than seal. A light rain stays inside the drainage path; a heavy rain exceeds its capacity and finds the first place the path is imperfect.

A shingle roof is a layered water-shedding system, not a membrane. Water is meant to travel down and off, with laps, flashings and an underlayment catching what gets past the surface. Every part of that system has a capacity. Below capacity, a small defect never gets wet enough to matter. Above it, water backs up, spreads sideways, or stands long enough to work through a lap — and suddenly a defect that has been there for three years produces a stain on a ceiling. The defect did not change. The load did.

What does wind-driven rain do that ordinary rain does not?

It changes the direction of the water. Wind pushes rain horizontally and upward, so it can enter laps, vents and flashings that are perfectly adequate against water falling straight down.

The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety’s wind-driven rain research programme describes it bluntly: wind-driven rain “acts as a damage amplifier,” and when forced inside by severe storms it “can infiltrate through roofs, doors, windows” and other openings. IBHS also notes that interior water damage is one of the most frequent and costly insurance claims. For a Central Kentucky homeowner the practical translation is that a leak which only appears during a storm with real wind behind it is telling you something specific about the direction water is arriving from — and that direction narrows the search enormously.

Which is also why a leak can be storm-specific. One storm hits the west elevation and the ceiling stains; the next arrives from the south and nothing happens at all. That is not a mysterious or intermittent roof. That is a directional defect, and it is diagnosable. I have written separately about how wind direction shapes roof damage in Kentucky.

Where do heavy-rain-only leaks usually start?

At transitions and penetrations. Nearly every volume-dependent or wind-dependent leak traces back to a place where the roof plane stops being a plane.

• Valleys. A valley carries the combined runoff of two planes. It is the highest-volume path on most roofs and therefore the first to be overwhelmed.
• Step flashing and kick-out flashing at walls. Where a roof meets a wall, water is supposed to be handed off to the wall’s drainage plane. A missing kick-out at the bottom of that run sends water behind the siding instead, which often shows up as a wall stain rather than a ceiling stain.
• Vent and pipe penetrations. Boots and collars are the shortest-lived components up there, and wind-driven rain attacks them from the side. See stopping roof vent leaks.
• The eave and drip edge. Under high volume, water can run back along the underside of the deck edge instead of releasing into the gutter. Drip edge requirements in Kentucky covers why this detail is code-relevant and not cosmetic.
• Slope transitions. Where a steep plane drains onto a shallow one — a porch or an addition — the shallow plane receives more water than it was designed for. See flat versus low-slope roofs under Kentucky code.
• Overwhelmed or blocked gutters. A gutter that overtops in a downpour puts water against the fascia and back up under the first course. The roof is fine; the drainage is not.

Is it even the roof?

Not always, and it is worth ruling out early. Wind-driven rain enters walls, windows and siding too, and attic condensation produces ceiling stains that have nothing to do with rain at all.

Two quick discriminators. First, timing: a stain that appears during cold clear weather rather than during rain points at condensation, which is a ventilation question rather than a water-entry question — see soffit vents and roof intake ventilation. Second, position: water that shows up at the top of a wall or around a window head during a driving storm, with a dry attic above it, is usually a wall or window problem, not a roof problem. Chasing it as a roof leak is how people end up paying for two repairs.

How is a storm-only leak actually found?

By reproducing the condition, not by guessing. If volume is the trigger, you need volume; if direction is the trigger, you need to simulate direction. A dry-day visual inspection alone frequently finds nothing.

The sequence that works is bottom-up and patient. Somebody watches from inside the attic with a light while water is applied outside, starting low on the suspect area and working upward in sections, allowing time between sections. The first section that produces water is the answer; if you flood the whole roof at once you learn nothing except that it leaks, which you already knew. For a directional leak, water has to be directed at the suspect flashing from the side rather than simply poured down the plane. It is slow work, and it is the difference between a repair and a guess.

Observation during a real storm is the other half of it. Note the wind direction and roughly how hard it was raining when the leak appeared, and note which elevation of the house the weather was hitting. The National Weather Service forecast offices covering this part of the state — NWS Louisville for Central Kentucky and NWS Jackson for the eastern counties — publish the storm and rainfall information that lets you match a leak event to actual conditions rather than to memory.

What should you do before the next storm?

Document and protect, in that order. A dated photograph of the stain at its worst, with a note of the wind direction, is worth more later than anything you can do on the roof in the rain.

Clear the gutters and downspouts, because that is the one contributing cause a homeowner can usually remove safely from the ground. Move what is under the stain and put something down to catch water. Do not go onto a wet roof. Repairs to flashings and penetrations are the kind of work that has to be done dry to be done once, and work that touches the roof covering may be subject to permit and code requirements administered through the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction.

A note from the field

The hardest leaks to find are the ones that have already been repaired once. A sealed-over penetration or a caulked flashing changes where water goes without necessarily stopping it, so the stain moves and the history stops being a reliable guide. When a leak has survived a previous repair, I would rather start from the drainage logic of the whole roof than from the previous repair’s location — the fact that someone chose that spot once is weak evidence, and it anchors everybody’s thinking. The other recurring lesson is that homeowners consistently under-report wind. “It was raining hard” and “it was raining hard with the wind out of the west” are different diagnoses, and only one of them narrows the search.

Common questions

Does a leak only in heavy rain mean the whole roof needs replacing?

Not by itself. A volume-dependent or direction-dependent leak points at a specific detail — a valley, a flashing, a penetration or the drainage at the eave. Whether replacement is warranted depends on the age and condition of the covering overall, which is a separate assessment.

Why can an inspector find nothing on a dry day?

Because the defect is only a defect under load. Nothing is missing or obviously broken; a lap is slightly short, a flashing is slightly open, or a path is slightly undersized. These are often invisible until water is applied in the volume or direction that exposes them.

Can clogged gutters really cause a ceiling leak?

Yes, and it is a common one. When a gutter overtops in a downpour, water is held against the fascia and the roof edge and can work back under the lowest course. It presents exactly like a roof leak and only happens when rainfall is heavy enough to overtop the gutter.

Last updated: October 2, 2026

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

General diagnostic information only. It is not a substitute for an on-site inspection, and no article can identify the source of a leak on a specific building. Do not walk a wet or storm-damaged roof.

Central Roof Repair · Code notes

Kentucky’s residential code assigns one design wind speed to the entire state — a basic ultimate wind speed of 115 mph — and a ground snow load county by county, which is 15 psf across almost all of Central Kentucky. Those two numbers sit behind how a roof is supposed to be built here.

Homeowners often assume design criteria vary with how windy their neighborhood feels, or that the hills get a lighter snow number than the flat counties. Kentucky’s adopted table says otherwise, and it is a short, readable table. Here is what it actually contains for the counties we work in, straight from the state’s own document.

What is Kentucky’s design wind speed?

115 mph, statewide. Table R301.2(1) of the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition (August 2024) states: “Basic ultimate wind speed, V_ult, shall be 115 mph (51.4 m/s) for all Kentucky counties.”

The same table adds a sentence that matters on hill ground: “Topographic effects shall be investigated.” Kentucky does not hand ridge tops and hollows a different wind speed — it tells the designer to look at the terrain on top of the statewide number. If your house sits on an exposed ridge or at the crest of a hill, that sentence is the one that applies to you.

What is the ground snow load for Central Kentucky counties?

15 psf for every county we routinely work in. The table lists ground snow load, p_g, in pounds per square foot, county by county, and the Central Kentucky and Gorge-region counties are all at the lower of the state’s two values.

County	Ground snow load (psf)
Fayette	15
Madison	15
Clark	15
Jessamine	15
Scott	15
Woodford	15
Bourbon	15
Montgomery	15
Estill	15
Powell	15
Menifee	15
Wolfe	15
Lee	15

Statewide, the table uses two values: 15 psf for most counties and 20 psf for a set that includes Boone, Boyd, Bracken, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Greenup, Henry, Kenton, Knott, Martin, Mason and Trimble, along with Floyd, Leslie and Letcher. Three counties also carry elevation footnotes — above 2,600 feet in Bell and Harlan, and above 2,500 feet in Letcher, the table requires values “based on site-specific case studies or by other approved means of rational analysis.”

What else does that table set for every Kentucky county?

Three statewide classifications worth knowing, because they explain material and detailing choices a homeowner may otherwise read as upselling.

• Weathering: SEVERE. The table classifies weathering probability for concrete as SEVERE for all Kentucky counties. That is a freeze-thaw statement, and freeze-thaw is the same mechanism that works on a roof’s flashings, mortar and masonry chimney crowns.
• Termite infestation probability: MODERATE TO HEAVY. Statewide. Relevant to roofs because termite damage and chronic moisture tend to be found in the same places — fascia, rafter tails, sheathing edges at a long-term leak.
• Seismic design category is set by its own table, R301.2.2.1, rather than by a single statewide value.

Do these numbers apply to a repair or a reroof?

Not automatically, and that distinction is the building official’s to make, not a contractor’s. These are design criteria for construction under the residential code. What a specific repair, reroof or addition has to meet depends on the scope of work and the code sections your jurisdiction applies to it.

What the numbers are genuinely useful for is calibration. When someone tells you that a Central Kentucky roof does not need wind-rated fastening because “we don’t get real wind here,” the state’s own design value for your county is 115 mph. And when a quote treats a ridge-top house the same as one in a sheltered subdivision, “topographic effects shall be investigated” is a fair thing to raise.

For which rulebook governs your project in the first place, see which roof code rulebook applies in Lexington, and for the permit question on a reroof, see reroof permits under Central Kentucky’s state code.

How this changes what we look at on a roof

On an exposed site, the parts of a roof that fail first are the edges and the penetrations — the places where uplift gets a grip and where water gets a path. A statewide 115 mph design value and an explicit instruction to investigate terrain are a reasonable justification for paying attention to edge detailing on a hillside house rather than treating it as optional. None of that is a prediction about any particular roof; it is a reason to look in a specific order. For the related code requirement at the roof edge itself, see Kentucky’s drip edge rule.

Is the design wind speed the same as a wind gust in a storm?

No. A basic ultimate wind speed is a design value used in structural design, not a forecast or a measurement of a particular storm. Kentucky sets it at 115 mph for all counties.

Why would two neighboring counties have different snow loads?

The table assigns ground snow load by county, with most Kentucky counties at 15 psf and a group — largely northern and eastern — at 20 psf. Three counties carry elevation footnotes requiring site-specific analysis above 2,500 or 2,600 feet.

Where can I read the table myself?

It is Table R301.2(1) in the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition (August 2024), published by the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction at dhbc.ky.gov.

Last updated: October 1, 2026

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

Central Roof Repair is owned by Marcos Gil, who also publishes marcosgilrealty.com and investinthegorge.com. This note is general information about Kentucky’s adopted design criteria. It is not an inspection, a diagnosis of any particular roof, a code ruling, or a promise about any result.

Central Roof Repair · Code notes

Before a flat roof repair in Lexington, KY can be specified, the roof has to be classified — and Kentucky’s adopted code does that by slope, not by what the roof looks like from the driveway. At 2:12 the code changes which coverings are even permitted, and that single number decides whether your repair can be shingles at all.

Is a flat roof actually flat?

No. Kentucky’s residential code requires a design slope on the coverings people call flat — a minimum of one-fourth unit vertical in 12 horizontal for drainage.

Section R905.9.1 sets built-up roofs at a design slope of not less than one-fourth unit vertical in 12 units horizontal — a 2-percent slope — with an exception for coal-tar built-up roofs at one-eighth unit vertical in 12 (1 percent). R905.11.1 puts modified bitumen membrane roofs at the same one-fourth-in-12 minimum, and R905.12.1 does the same for thermoset single-ply membrane. “Flat” is a shape you see; the code sees a drainage requirement.

Those sections live in the Kentucky Residential Code adopted and published by the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, which posts the full document as a free PDF of the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition. Commercial and most multi-unit work runs off the Kentucky Building Code instead — which rulebook applies to your building is its own question, covered in which roof rulebook applies in Lexington.

Where does the code draw the line between shingles and membrane?

At 2:12. Section R905.2.2 states asphalt shingles “shall be used only on roof slopes of two units vertical in 12 units horizontal (2:12) or greater.” Below that, shingles are not a permitted covering.

And between 2:12 and 4:12, shingles are permitted but not on a single layer of underlayment: the code requires double underlayment application for slopes from 2:12 up to 4:12. So there are really three bands, not two — below 2:12 you are in membrane territory, 2:12 to 4:12 is shingles with two layers underneath, and 4:12 and up is the ordinary one-layer assembly.

What is the minimum slope for each roof covering in Kentucky?

Every covering type carries its own floor. These are the minimums stated in Chapter 9 of the Kentucky Residential Code, by section.

Covering	Minimum slope	Section
Built-up roof	1/4:12 (2%) — coal-tar 1/8:12 (1%)	R905.9.1
Modified bitumen membrane	1/4:12	R905.11.1
Thermoset single-ply membrane	1/4:12	R905.12.1
Asphalt shingles	2:12 (double underlayment 2:12 to 4:12)	R905.2.2
Photovoltaic shingles	2:12	R905.16.2
Clay and concrete roof tile	2 1/2:12 (double underlayment 2 1/2:12 to 4:12)	R905.3.2
Metal roof shingles	Not below 3:12	R905.4.2
Metal roof panels, lapped nonsoldered seam, no lap sealant	3:12	R905.10.2
Wood shingles	3:12	R905.7.2
Wood shakes	3:12	R905.8.2
Slate shingles	4:12	R905.6.2

Why does slope change what a repair can be?

Because a covering below its minimum slope is not a repair that passes — it is a leak with a warranty on it. Water moves by gravity; shingles are lapped, not sealed.

A shingle roof works because water runs off faster than it can back up under a lap. Take the slope away and the same assembly holds water at every course. That is why the code stops permitting shingles at 2:12 rather than merely discouraging them, and why the low-slope coverings are specified as membranes with sealed or welded seams instead of laps. The repair method follows the classification, and the classification follows a measurement anyone can take in two minutes with a level and a tape.

The mismatch I get asked about most is a porch, a dormer or a rear addition built at something like 1.5:12 and shingled to match the main roof because it looked better that way. It leaks, it gets patched with more shingles, and it leaks again in the same place — because the covering was never permitted at that slope to begin with. The fix is a covering change on that plane, not another patch. Flashing at the junction where the two planes meet is its own detail; see how leaks travel beneath shingles and how a low-slope commercial roof gets repaired.

How do you measure roof slope without getting on the roof?

From inside, or from a ladder at the eave: hold a level out 12 inches horizontally against the rafter or the roof plane and measure the vertical drop at the end.

That vertical measurement in inches is the first number of the ratio. Three inches of drop over 12 inches of run is 3:12. Anything under two inches of drop puts you below the shingle threshold. Do it in two places on the same plane, because framing settles and an old addition is rarely the slope its drawings claimed. If a covering change is on the table, the permit question comes next — see when a re-roof needs a permit in Central Kentucky.

Frequently asked questions

My porch roof is shingled at about 1:12 and has been for years. Is it grandfathered?

Existing construction and new work are judged differently, and that call belongs to the building official for your jurisdiction, not to a contractor. What does not change is the physics: a lapped covering below its minimum slope will keep backing water up. Ask the inspector what is required when you replace that plane.

Is “flat roof” and “low-slope roof” the same thing?

In conversation, yes. In a specification, no — the code does not permit a zero-slope roof covering. Built-up, modified bitumen and thermoset single-ply all carry a stated design-slope minimum of one-fourth unit in 12, so a properly designed “flat” roof has a deliberate fall built into it for drainage.

Does metal solve a low-slope problem?

Not automatically. The code’s floor for lapped, nonsoldered-seam metal roofs without applied lap sealant is 3:12 — higher than the shingle threshold, not lower. Different metal systems have different minimums, so the system and its seam type decide, and the manufacturer’s stated minimum has to be met as well.

Last updated: September 30, 2026. Every slope figure above is quoted from Chapter 9 of the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code as adopted and published by the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, read 30 September 2026. Editions and local amendments change; confirm the requirement with the building official who will inspect the work.

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

Central Roof Repair is owned by Marcos Gil, who also publishes marcosgilrealty.com and investinthegorge.com. This note is general information about roof slope and code classification. It is not an inspection, a diagnosis of any particular roof, a code ruling, or a promise about any result.

Roof Notes · Ventilation

Soffit vents are the intake half of a roof, and the half nobody looks at. Block them and a ridge vent does not stop working — it starts working against the house, pulling its replacement air down through the ceiling instead of in at the eaves. On a Central Kentucky roof that shows up as a winter moisture problem long before anyone calls it a ventilation problem.

Last updated: September 29, 2026

What do soffit vents actually do?

They are the low intake. Air enters at the eave, rises under the roof deck carrying heat and moisture with it, and leaves high at the ridge.

The Department of Energy’s Building America Solution Center describes the geometry plainly: intake vents “should be located low in the roof, typically in the soffits of the roof eaves, while exhaust vents should be located high, typically at the ridge.” Nothing about that arrangement is decorative. The stack effect that moves the air only exists if there is an opening at both ends, and the soffit is the end that gets covered up — by insulation, by paint, by a new soffit panel, by a squirrel screen with more screen than hole in it.

How much ventilation is a roof supposed to have?

One square foot of net free area per 150 to 300 square feet of attic floor, measured at the ceiling plane — split about evenly between intake and exhaust.

“Net free area” is the phrase that trips people up. It is not the size of the hole you cut; it is the clear open area left after the louvre blades and the insect screen take their share, and it is printed on the vent product, not measured with a tape. DOE’s guidance on condensation control in attics and roofs in cold weather states that residential codes “typically require 1 square foot of net free area (NFA) per 150 (up to 300) square feet of attic floor space,” that in cold climates where condensation is likely it helps to meet the 1/150 ratio, and that ventilation product manufacturers commonly suggest increasing the figure for steeper roofs — 1.2 times NFA at 7:12 through 10:12, and 1.3 times at 11:12 and above.

Central Kentucky roofs sit in the part of the country that gets both halves of the problem: attics that bake in July and attics that condense in January. The ratio is the same either way.

Why does more exhaust than intake make things worse?

Air leaving at the ridge has to be replaced from somewhere. If the soffits cannot supply it, the attic takes it through the ceiling below.

The DOE guidance puts the rule in one sentence: “The exhaust vent area should never exceed the intake area, although it may be acceptable and/or desirable to increase the intake area beyond the code minimum.” Read the asymmetry — you are allowed extra intake, never extra exhaust. The reason is the air the attic recruits when intake is short. It comes up through recessed light cans, the attic hatch, plumbing stacks, wire penetrations and the top plates of interior walls, and it is warm, humid indoor air. In December that air meets cold sheathing, condenses, and drips back onto the insulation. The homeowner sees a stain on a bedroom ceiling and reasonably concludes the roof is leaking. The roof is not leaking. The same house in August sends attic heat back down through the insulation and runs the air conditioner harder.

How do you check your own soffit vents?

From the ground with a flashlight, then from inside the attic at the eave. Both views, because each one misses a different failure.

Four things are worth looking for, and I would put them in this order.

• Paint. On older Central Kentucky houses with wood or perforated aluminium soffit, repeated repaints close the perforations one coat at a time. From below it still reads as a vented panel.
• Solid panels in the wrong place. Vinyl and aluminium soffit ships in vented and solid versions. When solid runs the eave and the vented stock ends up somewhere it does nothing, the roof looks finished and has no intake.
• Insulation at the eave. This is the most common one after an attic top-up. Blown-in insulation slumps into the eave and buries the vent from the inside. The fix is a baffle at each rafter bay that holds the channel open, installed before the insulation goes back.
• Intake that does not match the exhaust that was added. If a ridge vent, powered fan or extra box vents went on at some point and nobody counted the soffit, the balance is almost certainly wrong in the dangerous direction.

The reason the soffit is worth the trip up the ladder is that it is cheap to fix and expensive to ignore. A blocked eave does not announce itself; it shortens the life of the sheathing and the insulation quietly, and it is frequently discovered during an unrelated repair. Our fascia and soffit repair page covers what the physical repair involves, and the Kentucky roof drip edge code note explains the other job the eave is doing at the same time. If the symptom you actually have is water at a vent rather than moisture in the attic, start with stopping roof vent leaks instead.

Can I just add more ridge vent instead of fixing the soffits?

No — that is the specific move the DOE guidance warns against, because exhaust area should never exceed intake area. Adding exhaust to a roof with restricted intake increases how much replacement air the attic pulls out of the house.

What if the house has no eave overhang at all?

Then soffit intake is not available and the ventilation strategy has to change — which is exactly the case the tighter 1/150 ratio exists for. Edge-of-deck intake vents and other details can substitute, and the assembly is worth designing rather than guessing at.

Do soffit baffles go in every rafter bay?

Every bay that has a vent below it and insulation above it. A baffle in three bays out of twelve holds three channels open and leaves the other nine buried, which is close to having none.

Last updated: September 29, 2026. The net-free-area ratios, the intake-and-exhaust placement, the “exhaust should never exceed intake” rule and the steep-pitch multipliers are quoted from the U.S. Department of Energy Building America Solution Center guide on condensation control in attics and roofs in cold weather, read 29 September 2026. Kentucky’s residential code is adopted and published by the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction; confirm the ratio your jurisdiction enforces before you size anything.

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

Central Roof Repair is owned by Marcos Gil, who also publishes marcosgilrealty.com and investinthegorge.com. This note is general information about attic ventilation. It is not an inspection, a diagnosis of any particular roof, or a promise about any result.

Roof Notes · Storm Damage

Wind damage on a Kentucky roof has a direction, and the direction is the most useful thing about it. The National Weather Service separates straight-line wind from tornado damage by asking which way the debris is lying, and a homeowner standing in the yard the morning after can read the same evidence on the same roof before anyone climbs it.

This is the survey method, not a rule of thumb. The NWS office in Northern Indiana states the distinction in two words: “IN – all wind flows INTO a tornado” and “OUT – all wind flows OUT from a downburst.” With a tornado, “debris is often laying at angles due to the curving of the inflow winds.” With a downburst, “debris is often laying in straight lines (hence the term ‘straight line winds’) parallel to the outward wind flow.”

How do you tell wind damage from ordinary wear on a Kentucky roof?

Wear is scattered and random across the whole roof. Wind damage is directional and edge-first: it concentrates on one or two slopes, starts at a perimeter or a ridge, and points the same way.

That is the practical value of the NWS framing. A roof that has simply aged loses granules and seals unevenly everywhere. A roof that met a downburst shows a consistent story: lifted or creased shingles on the windward slope, a clean line where the failure started, and everything downstream of it pointing away from the same origin. If the pattern on your roof has no direction, the storm probably is not the explanation.

Why does wind damage start at the edge of the roof?

Because the edge is where wind first gets underneath. Uplift needs a lever, and an unsealed perimeter shingle, a lifted ridge cap or a poorly terminated rake gives it one.

Once the first course lifts, the failure runs with the wind rather than against it, which is why a wind event so often reads as a stripe rather than a patch. It is also why the perimeter details are code-regulated in the first place — see our note on what the Kentucky code requires at the drip edge, which is the specific detail most often missing where a wind stripe begins.

What is worth photographing the morning after a Central Kentucky windstorm?

Four things: the direction everything in the yard is lying, the affected slope from the ground, any shingles or caps on the ground with their position, and the date.

• The yard, not just the roof. Lawn furniture, branches and fence sections lying in one consistent direction is the same evidence the NWS uses. Photograph it before anyone tidies up.
• The whole elevation from the ground, then the detail. A wide shot establishes which slope and which direction; close-ups without it establish neither.
• Anything that came off, where it landed. A shingle in the yard downwind of the slope it came from is a directional fact. In a bag by the garage it is just a shingle.
• The date, from the camera. The event date is what ties your roof to the public storm record, and the record is searchable — the NOAA Storm Events Database logs thunderstorm wind events by county and date.

Does a wind event have to be a tornado to damage a roof?

No. Straight-line thunderstorm wind is the ordinary case in Central Kentucky, not the exception, and it is the category most of the county record is made of.

We counted that record ourselves for fourteen Central and Eastern Kentucky counties: the federal log carries far more thunderstorm wind events than hail events across 2022 through 2024. The county-by-county numbers, with the source files, are in our comparison of the Central Kentucky wind and hail record. The reason it matters for a roof is that the damage signature nobody is looking for is the one that shows up most often.

A note on how this goes in practice, as a matter of craft. The single most common thing that weakens a homeowner’s own account of a wind event is cleanup. The yard gets cleared, the loose shingles get stacked, and by the time anyone is looking at the roof the direction — the one piece of evidence the National Weather Service itself relies on — has been thrown away. Ten minutes of photographs before the cleanup is worth more than any amount of description afterwards, and it costs nothing.

Can I tell the wind speed from the damage on my roof?

Not yourself. The NWS assigns a maximum wind speed after a survey, “based on the degree of damage and damage indicators,” which is a trained judgement against a published scale. What you can do is record the direction and the date accurately and let the public record supply the event.

Is a lifted shingle that settled back down still damage?

It can be, because the seal strip does not re-bond once it has been broken. A shingle that looks flat again may no longer be sealed to the course below it, which is why creasing along the seal line matters more than whether the shingle is currently lying down.

My roof is on a rental — who handles a wind repair?

That is a landlord-and-tenant question set by the lease and by Kentucky law rather than by the roof, and we cover it separately in who repairs a roof leak in a Kentucky rental.

Last updated: September 28, 2026. The IN/OUT distinction, the debris-direction wording and the wind-speed assignment method are quoted from the National Weather Service Northern Indiana page on straight-line winds versus tornadoes, read 28 September 2026. Event counts referenced above come from the NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database as reported in our own earlier note, retrieved 27 September 2026.

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

Central Roof Repair is owned by Marcos Gil, who also publishes marcosgilrealty.com and investinthegorge.com. This note is general information about reading storm evidence. It is not a damage assessment, an insurance opinion, or a promise about any claim outcome.

Roof Notes · Storm Data

Across fourteen Central and Eastern Kentucky counties from 2022 through 2024, the federal storm record logs 326 thunderstorm wind events and 31 hail events — better than ten wind events for every hail event. Roofing conversation in Kentucky is mostly about hail. The record is mostly about wind.

We pulled this from the National Centers for Environmental Information Storm Events Database, the federal government’s own event log, using the published annual CSV files for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Everything below is counted from those files. Anyone can download them and get the same numbers.

How often does Central Kentucky actually get damaging hail?

Less often than the marketing implies. Across fourteen counties and three full years, the record holds 31 hail events total — roughly ten per year spread over an area of about 4,000 square miles.

Hail concentrates where population and spotters concentrate. Fayette County logged 8 events, Madison 6, Jessamine 5, Powell 3, and Clark, Estill and Scott 2 each. Menifee, Lee and Montgomery logged one apiece. The three years were also very uneven: 12 hail events in 2022, 16 in 2023, and 3 in 2024. A single year is not a pattern here.

The largest stone in the window was 3.00 inches, recorded in Fayette County on 19 May 2022. Madison County logged 2.75 inches on 25 June 2023, and Jessamine County 2.75 inches on 19 May 2022.

Which counties get hit by thunderstorm wind most?

Estill, Montgomery, Powell and Fayette, in that order — and the top three are all smaller, more rural counties than Fayette. Wind is the dominant recorded event in every county on the list.

County	Thunderstorm wind events	Hail events	Strongest gust logged
Estill	49	2	56 kt
Montgomery	44	1	65 kt
Powell	41	3	61 kt
Fayette	41	8	83 kt
Wolfe	24	0	51 kt
Menifee	22	1	50 kt
Madison	20	6	96 kt
Woodford	18	0	70 kt
Scott	18	2	60 kt
Clark	15	2	71 kt
Lee	12	1	65 kt
Garrard	10	0	74 kt
Jessamine	8	5	54 kt
Bourbon	4	0	53 kt

The single strongest entry in the three-year set is Madison County on 25 June 2023: a 96-knot estimated gust, about 110 mph, from an NWS storm survey. Fayette County’s 83-knot estimate on 2 April 2024 is about 96 mph, also from a storm survey. The strongest instrument-measured gust in the set is 71 knots — about 82 mph — in Clark County on 17 August 2024, recorded by a mesonet station.

Do wind and hail arrive together?

Sometimes the same storm does both within minutes. Madison County’s 96-knot gust is logged at 21:32 on 25 June 2023; its 2.75-inch hail is logged at 21:34 — two minutes later.

That matters for how a roof gets looked at afterward. A storm that produced both leaves two different damage signatures on the same slope: impact bruising from the stones, and lifted, creased or displaced material from the gust. Inspecting for one and stopping is how the other gets missed. Our note on signs of hidden roof damage covers what each looks like from the ground.

What months does this happen in?

July is the busiest month by a wide margin. Counting both event types across all three years: July 96, June 76, August 70, May 54, April 25, February 18, January 10, and March and November 4 each.

The gap is the surprising part. Across three full years and fourteen counties, the record contains zero hail or thunderstorm wind events in September, October or December. That is a real quiet season in the data — and it is the window in which a roof can be looked at, and work scheduled, without competing against a storm queue. It is also why catching trouble early is easier in autumn than in midsummer.

February’s 18 events are worth a second look too. Winter thunderstorm wind is not what most homeowners picture, and it arrives when nobody is thinking about the roof.

What are the limits of this data?

It is a record of reported events, not a census of weather. Counts reflect how many people were positioned to report, so every number here is a floor rather than a total.

The sources attached to individual entries make that concrete: the strongest gust came from an NWS storm survey, one hail report from broadcast media, another from a county emergency manager, another from a member of the public, one wind report from a 911 call center. A county with more spotters, more media coverage and a more active emergency management office will log more events than an identical county without them. Estill County topping the wind list ahead of Fayette is a genuine finding, but it is a finding about the record, and part of what drives it is who was there to call it in.

Most of the gust figures are also estimates rather than measurements. The database flags each one, and in this set nearly all of the high numbers are NWS estimated gusts derived from surveying damage on the ground, not readings off an anemometer. That is standard practice and it is how severe wind is assessed nationally — but an estimated 96 mph and a measured 96 mph are not the same kind of number, and it is worth knowing which one you are reading.

In the field the thing this data matches is how differently the two damage types announce themselves. Hail gets attention because it is loud and it happens to the whole neighborhood at once, so everyone looks at once. Wind damage tends to be localized to a slope, an edge, or one run of material, it makes no noise the homeowner connects to the roof, and it frequently shows up months later as a stain on a ceiling rather than as a storm memory. If the record says wind outnumbers hail ten to one here, then the damage most likely to be sitting unaddressed on a Central Kentucky roof right now is the quiet kind. None of that is a reason to skip a hail inspection — it is a reason not to let hail be the only thing that triggers one. Kentucky also puts deadlines on insurance claims, and a delay is easier to cause with damage nobody noticed.

Forecast and warning context for these counties comes from the National Weather Service office in Louisville for central Kentucky and the Jackson office for the eastern counties. Our storm restoration notes cover what to do after an event.

Is hail or wind worse for roofs in Central Kentucky?

By frequency in the federal record, wind — 326 thunderstorm wind events against 31 hail events across fourteen counties from 2022 through 2024. Severity per event is a separate question; a 3-inch hail stone and a 110 mph gust are both capable of ending a roof’s service life.

What was the strongest storm wind recorded near Lexington recently?

In this three-year set, Fayette County’s highest entry is an 83-knot estimated gust — about 96 mph — on 2 April 2024, from a National Weather Service storm survey. Neighboring Madison County logged a 96-knot estimate, about 110 mph, on 25 June 2023.

When is the quiet season for storm damage here?

September and October. Across 2022 through 2024 the database records no hail or thunderstorm wind events in those months for any of the fourteen counties counted. That is a record of reports, not a guarantee of calm weather.

Last updated: September 27, 2026. Counts drawn from NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database annual files for 2022, 2023 and 2024, retrieved 27 September 2026.

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

Central Roof Repair is owned by Marcos Gil, who also publishes marcosgilrealty.com. This note is general information about a public dataset, not an insurance opinion, a damage assessment or a promise about any claim outcome.

Roof Notes · Kentucky Code

Kentucky amends a lot of the residential code. In the entire roof assemblies chapter it amends exactly one section — the drip edge — and the Kentucky version is broader than the national one. It allows things the base code does not. If a contractor or an inspector is working from a generic IRC summary on Central Kentucky shingle work, they are reading the wrong paragraph.

What does the Kentucky code require for roof drip edge?

A drip edge at eaves and gables of shingle roofs, lapped at least 2 inches, extending at least a quarter inch below the sheathing and 2 inches up the deck, fastened no more than 12 inches on center.

Section R905.2.8.5 of the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition, states it in full:

“A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and gables of shingle roofs. Adjacent pieces of drip edge shall be overlapped a minimum of 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall extend a minimum of 0.25 inch (6.4 mm) below the roof sheathing and extend up the roof deck a minimum of 2 inches (51 mm). Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the roof deck at a maximum of 12 inches (305 mm) on center with fasteners as specified in Section R905.2.5. Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge on gables.”

Five measurable requirements and one sequencing rule. The sequencing rule is the one that gets missed on real jobs, so it is worth separating out.

Why does underlayment go over the drip edge at eaves but under it at gables?

Because water moves differently in the two places. At the eave, water runs down to the edge and must get onto the metal. At the gable, wind drives water sideways and the metal has to shed it away from the underlayment.

Get it backwards at the eave and the underlayment ends behind the drip edge, which lets water that reaches the felt run behind the metal and onto the fascia and the deck edge instead of into the gutter. It is a small mistake that produces rotted fascia, a stained soffit and a deck edge that fails years before the shingles do. It is also invisible from the ground once the shingles are on.

This is one of the specific things worth looking for when a roof is only a few years old and the fascia is already soft. The shingles can be fine and the flashing details can still be wrong. The same logic — water has to be given somewhere to go, not just something to hit — is what drives vent leaks as well.

The sentence Kentucky added that the national code does not have

Kentucky’s amendment continues past the standard language to permit alternatives, and this is the part no generic drip edge article covers.

The Kentucky section adds: “Alternate methods to the standard metal drip edge may include site formed coil stock that creates a drip line as intended by the code. Wood, composite, and manufactured trim installed on the fascia shall create a drip line to prevent water from running back under the shingles, which will meet the requirements of the drip edge.”

Read that carefully, because it cuts both ways.

In the homeowner’s favour: site-formed coil stock counts, and so does fascia trim that genuinely creates a drip line. On older Central Kentucky houses with existing wood or manufactured fascia trim, Kentucky’s code does not force that detail to be torn off and replaced with factory drip edge to be compliant. That is a real cost difference on a re-roof.

Against a sloppy job: the permission is conditional on function, not on appearance. The language is “shall create a drip line to prevent water from running back under the shingles.” Trim that does not create that drip line is not an alternate method — it is just trim. “There’s fascia board there” is not the standard the section sets.

How long has this been the rule?

Unchanged across at least two editions. We compared the Second Edition published May 2020 against the Third Edition published August 2024 and the drip edge section is word for word identical.

Both documents are published by the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, and we read both PDFs on 26 September 2026 and compared the section text directly. Nothing in R905.2.8.5 moved between them.

That matters for two reasons. If your roof was installed any time in the last several years, this is the standard it should have been built to — the rule did not change underneath it. And if someone tells you the drip edge requirement is new, or that the alternate-methods language was recently added, the published documents say otherwise. Which edition applies to a specific permit is still a question for the authority having jurisdiction, and Central Kentucky jurisdictions do not all enforce identically — that is the same wrinkle behind which rulebook applies to your roof.

What to actually check on your own roof

From the ground with binoculars you can see two of the five requirements: whether there is a metal edge or a functioning drip line at the eaves and rakes at all, and whether the pieces visibly lap rather than butt together. The quarter-inch projection below the sheathing, the 2-inch return up the deck and the 12-inch fastener spacing are not visible after installation. Neither is the underlayment sequence.

Which is why those are the items to put in writing before the work happens rather than argue about after. On a re-roof proposal, the sequencing line is the one to ask about by name: underlayment over the drip edge at the eaves, under it at the gables. A roofer who builds to the Kentucky section will answer that in one sentence. It is a fair question and a short one, and asking it before the tear-off costs nothing — the permit conversation is the natural place for it.

Is drip edge required on all Kentucky roofs?

Section R905.2.8.5 is written for shingle roofs and requires a drip edge at eaves and gables of shingle roofs. Other roof covering types are governed by their own sections of Chapter 9, and commercial and multi-family work may fall under the Kentucky Building Code rather than the Residential Code. Which code and which section apply to a specific building is a question for the local building official.

Can existing fascia trim satisfy the drip edge requirement in Kentucky?

The Kentucky amendment says wood, composite and manufactured trim installed on the fascia “shall create a drip line to prevent water from running back under the shingles, which will meet the requirements of the drip edge.” The condition is that it actually creates that drip line. Whether a particular existing detail does so on a particular house is an inspection judgement, not something that can be decided from a photograph.

Does a missing drip edge mean the roof has to come off?

Not necessarily — drip edge can sometimes be added at the eaves and rakes without a full tear-off, depending on the shingle course at the edge, the condition of the deck edge, and how the underlayment was run. It is a job-specific call. The reason to look at it at all is that the failure it causes shows up in the fascia and deck edge rather than as a ceiling leak, so it tends to be found late.

One observation from doing this work in Central Kentucky. Drip edge is the cheapest component on a roof and the one most often treated as optional trim rather than as a code-required water management detail. Kentucky is unusual in having gone out of its way to write a local amendment about it — out of an entire chapter on roof assemblies, this is the section the state chose to rewrite. That is a signal about what the state has seen fail.

This is general code information, not a code ruling and not an inspection of your roof. Code interpretation and enforcement belong to the building official with jurisdiction over your property.

All quoted code language above is from Section R905.2.8.5 of the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Third Edition (August 2024), published by the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. Third Edition and Second Edition (May 2020) PDFs both read and compared 26 September 2026. Last updated 26 September 2026.

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

Corridor Roof Report · Mount Sterling & Montgomery County

If you are hiring someone to repair a roof in Mount Sterling, there is one thing you cannot check: a Kentucky roofing licence. The state does not issue one. A bill to create one was filed in January 2026 and is still sitting in committee. Here is what you can verify instead, and which code the work has to meet in the meantime.

Does Kentucky license roofing contractors?

No. The Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction’s licence lookup covers “Building inspector, Electrical, Electrical Inspection, Manufactured Housing, HVAC, Plumbing and Fire.” Roofing is not on the list.

That is worth stating plainly because the phrase “licensed and insured” appears on roofing advertising all over Central Kentucky, and for the roofing trade specifically the first half of it does not refer to a state credential. You can confirm the scope of what Kentucky does licence yourself on the department’s Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction licence search page. If a roof job involves electrical work — a new service mast, a bath fan circuit, a repaired weatherhead — that portion does involve a licensed trade, and that licence is searchable there.

Is that about to change?

A bill exists but has not passed. House Bill 150 of the 2026 Regular Session, “AN ACT relating to roofing contractors,” would establish licensing for roofing contractors under the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction.

The Legislative Research Commission’s record for the bill shows its last action as 01/14/26, referred to the House Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations committee, sponsored by D. Grossberg. Its summary of the original version would create new sections of KRS Chapter 198B to define terms, establish licensing under the department, prohibit unlicensed persons from holding themselves out as roofing contractors, set applicant requirements and fee limits, and establish a fine and potential misdemeanor penalty for violations.

A referral to committee is not a law. Read this as the state of play as of 25 September 2026, not as a prediction — most filed bills do not pass, and I have no idea whether this one will.

Which code does a Mount Sterling roof have to meet?

The 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Second Edition, for a house. The department states it “adopted the 2018 Kentucky Building Code, Second Edition and the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Second Edition on August 3, 2019.”

Two consequences follow for a homeowner. First, the applicable standard is a statewide document, not a Mount Sterling document — the same residential code governs a roof in Mount Sterling, Winchester, Richmond and Lexington. Second, the code in force is a 2018 edition adopted in 2019, and it is built on the 2015 International Residential Code with Kentucky amendments. The department publishes the full 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Second Edition as a free PDF, so the roofing chapter is something you can read rather than take on faith. For commercial and multifamily buildings, the Kentucky Building Code is the companion document.

What that means for permits on a re-roof is a separate question with a separate answer — see when a re-roof needs a permit in Central Kentucky.

Who do I ask about a permit in Mount Sterling?

City Hall. The City of Mount Sterling directs building, permit and code questions to City Hall at (859) 498-8725.

Checking this today produced a finding worth passing on: the city’s website does not currently publish a standalone building-permit page with downloadable forms and fees. Older links to a Building Inspector page on the city site no longer resolve. What the city does publish online is its comprehensive plan and its official zoning map. Verified 25 September 2026.

Practically, that means you should not treat “I couldn’t find a permit page, so there must not be a permit” as an answer. Call the number and ask two specific questions: whether a permit is required for the scope you are doing, and who will inspect it. Write down the name of the person who told you. That call takes four minutes and it is the only part of this process a website cannot do for you.

So what can a homeowner actually verify before hiring?

Four things, none of which depend on a licence existing: the insurance, the scope, the code reference, and the paper trail.

On insurance, ask for the certificate and then call the number on the certificate rather than the number the contractor gives you. A certificate is a snapshot; policies lapse. The carrier or agent named on it will confirm whether it is current, and general liability and workers’ compensation are two different questions, not one.

On scope, the thing I look for in a written proposal is whether it names materials and assemblies rather than outcomes. “Repair leak” is not a scope. “Remove and replace X squares of covering, install underlayment of type Y, replace flashing at the chimney and the two plumbing penetrations, replace deteriorated decking at time-and-material” is a scope, because every line in it is checkable afterward by looking at the roof. A proposal that describes only the result gives you nothing to hold up against the finished work.

On code, ask which edition the work is being done to. You now know the answer — the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Second Edition — and a contractor who does not know that, or who names a code that was superseded, has told you something useful about how they keep up.

On the paper trail, photograph the roof before work starts and get photographs of anything that will be covered up, particularly decking, flashing and the ice-and-water membrane at the eaves. If the repair is storm-related there are also deadlines running on the insurance side that have nothing to do with the contractor’s schedule — see Kentucky insurance claim deadlines on a roof.

Questions Mount Sterling homeowners ask

If Kentucky has no roofing licence, is anyone regulating the work?

The work is regulated through the building code rather than through an occupational licence. The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction adopted the 2018 Kentucky Building Code and 2018 Kentucky Residential Code, Second Editions, on August 3, 2019, and those documents set the requirements the roof itself has to satisfy. Enforcement of a residential permit is a local building-department function, which is why the call to City Hall matters.

Does a contractor need a Mount Sterling business licence?

Local business licence and occupational-tax requirements are set by the city and county, not by the state, and they are separate from any trade licence. Ask City Hall at (859) 498-8725 what the city requires of a contractor working inside the city limits, and ask the contractor to show you what they hold.

What if HB 150 passes?

Then licensing of roofing contractors would move to the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction under new sections of KRS Chapter 198B, with applicant requirements, fee limits and penalties for holding yourself out as a roofing contractor without a licence. As of 25 September 2026 the bill’s last recorded action is its 01/14/26 committee referral, so nothing has changed yet.

None of this is legal advice. Permit requirements, local licence requirements and the application of the code to a specific roof are determined by the authority having jurisdiction, and insurance questions are determined by your policy and your carrier.

Quoted code-adoption language and the licence-type list above are from the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, read 25 September 2026. House Bill 150 status is from the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission bill record, read 25 September 2026. City of Mount Sterling site read 25 September 2026. Central Property Services and Central Roof Repair are owned by Marcos Gil, who is also a licensed Kentucky REALTOR®. Last updated 25 September 2026.

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.

Corridor Roof Report · Rentals & Property Management

A roof leak in a Kentucky rental does not have one answer, because Kentucky does not have one landlord-tenant law. The Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act is something a city, county or urban-county government has to adopt — and where it was not adopted, the lease and Kentucky common law are the whole rulebook. Which side of that line the property sits on decides who is obligated to get the roof fixed.

Does Kentucky have a statewide landlord-tenant law for repairs?

Not automatically. Kentucky’s version of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies only in jurisdictions that adopted it, and adoption is all-or-nothing.

KRS 383.500 authorizes cities, counties and urban-county governments to enact KRS 383.505 to 383.705, and adds two conditions that matter more than the authorization itself: if adopted, the provisions “shall be adopted in their entirety and without amendment,” and no other ordinance may be enacted by that government relating to the subjects those sections cover.

So there is no partial version and no local rewrite. A property is either in a jurisdiction that took the whole act or in one that took none of it. Before you rely on a statutory repair duty, confirm with the city or county attorney for that specific address whether the ordinance was adopted — the answer can change across a county line without anything about the building changing at all.

Where the act applies, who has to fix the roof?

The landlord. A leaking roof is a habitability and building-code problem, and both of those duties sit on the landlord’s side of the statute.

KRS 383.595(1) requires a landlord to comply with the requirements of applicable building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety, and to “make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition.” It also requires common areas to be kept clean and safe and the electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning facilities to be maintained in good and safe working order.

Subsection (2) settles which duty wins when they conflict: if the building-and-housing-code duty in (1)(a) is greater than any other duty in that subsection, the landlord’s obligation is measured by (1)(a). In plain terms, a code requirement is a floor, not a ceiling, and a lease cannot quietly lower it.

Can a lease shift the roof repair to the tenant?

Only within narrow limits, and never where the repair is needed to cure a building or housing code violation in a multi-unit building.

KRS 383.595(3) allows the landlord and tenant of a single family residence to agree in writing that the tenant will perform specified repairs, maintenance tasks, alterations and remodeling — “but only if the transaction is entered into in good faith and not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord.”

For any dwelling unit other than a single family residence, KRS 383.595(4) is stricter. That agreement is valid only if all three of the following are true:

• it is made in good faith, not to evade the landlord’s obligations, and is set out in a separate writing signed by the parties and supported by adequate consideration;
• the work is not necessary to cure noncompliance with the building and housing code duty in subsection (1)(a); and
• the agreement does not diminish or affect the landlord’s obligation to other tenants in the premises.

A roof that is letting water into a unit is close to the definition of the second bullet. A clause buried in a standard apartment lease that makes a tenant responsible for “all repairs” is not the separate, signed, separately-paid-for writing the statute describes.

What is the tenant actually responsible for?

Their own conduct and their own use of the property — not the building envelope.

KRS 383.605 requires a tenant to comply with the obligations applicable provisions of building and housing codes place primarily on tenants, keep the occupied part of the premises as clean and safe as its condition permits, dispose of waste properly, keep plumbing fixtures clean, use facilities and appliances reasonably, and “not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair or remove any part of the premises.”

That last clause is the one that comes up on roofs, and it is narrower than owners hope. A tenant who nails a satellite mount through a shingle field has damaged part of the premises. A tenant whose ceiling stained because a pipe boot cracked has not.

The practical split, on one page

Situation	Where the act applies	Source
Roof leaking into a unit	Landlord — fit and habitable, plus code compliance	KRS 383.595(1)(a), (1)(b)
Code duty conflicts with another duty	Code duty controls	KRS 383.595(2)
Single-family rental, repairs shifted in writing	Allowed if in good faith and not evasive	KRS 383.595(3)
Multi-unit, repairs shifted in writing	Only outside code-compliance work, separate signed writing, consideration	KRS 383.595(4)
Tenant-caused damage to the roof	Tenant	KRS 383.605(6)
Local government never adopted the act	Lease and Kentucky common law govern	KRS 383.500

What we do on a rental roof call

Document first, argue later. On a tenant-occupied property the photographs are worth more than the diagnosis, because the same set of images answers a habitability question, an insurance question and a “was this tenant-caused?” question, and nobody can re-take them after the repair. We date the photos, shoot the interior stain and the exterior source in the same visit, and write down what the weather was doing.

The second thing that saves owners money is separating stabilization from repair. Getting water stopped — a tarp or a targeted dry-in — is fast, defensible and does not require anyone to have decided yet who pays for the permanent fix. Deciding liability while water is still coming in is how a small roof leak repair turns into a ceiling replacement. Owners and managers running several buildings can see how we handle recurring work under the property manager program.

This is general information, not legal advice, and we are roofers rather than attorneys. Whether a particular jurisdiction adopted the act, and what a particular lease does, are questions for the city or county attorney and for your own counsel.

Questions owners and managers ask

If my county never adopted the act, do I have no repair duty?

No — it means the statutory duties in KRS 383.595 are not the source of the obligation there. The written lease, Kentucky common law and any applicable local property maintenance or building code still apply. KRS 383.500 controls only whether the uniform act itself is in force.

Can a tenant withhold rent over a roof leak?

Tenant remedies where the act applies are set out in KRS 383.625 and the sections around it, and they have their own notice requirements and procedures. That is a legal question for counsel, not a roofing question — but it is a reason to get the leak documented and stabilized quickly rather than to let it sit.

Does a lease clause making the tenant responsible for “all repairs” hold up?

Where the act applies and the property is not a single family residence, KRS 383.595(4) requires a separate writing, signed, supported by adequate consideration, that does not cover work needed to cure a building or housing code violation. A general clause inside the main lease does not meet that description.

Statutory text quoted above is from the Kentucky Revised Statutes as published by the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission; the KRS database was last updated 09/23/2026. Central Property Services and Central Roof Repair are owned by Marcos Gil, who is also a licensed Kentucky REALTOR®. Last updated 24 September 2026.

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.