Window and siding replacement in Eureka
What the code and the permit desk actually require here — and what the houses in Eureka tend to be hiding behind the siding.
- People
- 11,646
- Homes
- 4,408
- Size
- 11.22 square miles
- From downtown
- About 25 miles southwest
- ZIP codes
- 63025
- Founded or incorporated
- 1954
Eureka
The housing here is the city also annexed the 549-home Windswept Farms subdivision in 2019, adding a newer construction cohort.
What that vintage turns up
Builder-grade vinyl, installed new with the house, is now twenty-odd years old and arriving at the low end of its range. The frames usually have life left; the sealed units are the part that goes, and they go quietly — a haze that only shows in certain light, then a permanent film between the panes that will not clean off from either side.
Thin builder-grade vinyl shows a consistent pattern: fade on the elevations that get the sun, brittleness with age, and cracking at the nail slots where it was fastened too tight. Vinyl expands half an inch or more across a twelve-foot length, which is why the installation manual asks for about a dime's thickness of play between the fastener head and the siding. Nailed home, it has nowhere to go and it tears at the slot.
The one to watch on a house of this age
OSB sheathing is what is behind most of these walls, and it fails fast once it gets wet — fast enough that people in the trade call it vertical mulch. A small flashing defect that a 1925 house would have shrugged off because its walls dried out through the air leaks will rot a modern insulated wall instead.
Lead paint. No. The lead rule stops at 1978 and this is comfortably clear of it. 69.2% of the homes in St. Louis County were built before 1980, and on anything pre-1978 the EPA renovation rule applies to both of these trades. Window replacement is never exempt from it, at any size — a single window triggers it. A whole-house re-side clears the twenty square foot exterior threshold on the first wall. What the rule actually requires of a contractor.
Neighbourhoods
We work across Windswept Farms.
Next door
Eureka shares a boundary with Wildwood and Pacific. Where we have a page for a neighbour it is linked; where we do not, the rules there are still different from the rules here.
The rules in Eureka
Siding replacement Conditional
Eureka publishes a general rule but no siding-specific one. City Code Section 5-3.8: 'It shall be unlawful to construct, enlarge, alter or demolish a structure or change the nature or type of occupancy of a building or structure requiring greater strength, exitway or sanitary provisions' without first filing an application and obtaining the required permit. The same section carves out: 'Ordinary repairs, as defined in Section 105.2 of the International Building Code and Section R105.2 of the International Residential Code, which do not involve any violation of the codes shall be exempt from this provision.' Whether a re-side is an 'alteration' needing a permit or an 'ordinary repair' that is exempt therefore turns on the Building Commissioner's application of the adopted 2018 IRC definition; the City publishes nothing that resolves it, and the Residential Permits page lists 'new home construction, decks, swimming pools, interior finishes, etc.' plus fences and water heaters without naming siding.
Window replacement, same opening Conditional Enlarging or cutting an opening Permit required
Same-opening replacement falls under the same unresolved 'ordinary repairs' carve-out quoted above — the City publishes no window-specific exemption, so this is Conditional on the ordinary-repair determination. Enlarging an opening or cutting a new one is squarely covered by the published prohibition on altering a structure without a permit ('It shall be unlawful to construct, enlarge, alter or demolish a structure.
There is no legal efficiency requirement for a window in Eureka
No energy code adoption found. City Code Chapter 5, Article I, Division 2 (Adoption of Codes) comprises Sections 5-3.4 (Building Codes Adopted), 5-3.5 (One- and Two-Family Dwelling Code), 5-3.5.1 (International Swimming Pool and Spa Code), 5-3.6 (Structures — Prohibited Materials), 5-3.7 (Professional Engineer Prepared Plans and Plats Required) and 5-3.7.2 (Seismic Design — Earthquake Preparedness). None adopts an International Energy Conservation Code, and neither the Building Department page nor the Residential Permits page names one.
Which does not make it a good idea to buy the cheapest glass available. It means nobody is going to stop you. ENERGY STAR asks for U-0.25 or lower here and that is the number worth buying to, code or no code.
Contractor registration Not published
No contractor registration or licensing provision appears in Chapter 5, Article I, Division 3 (Permits Generally), and no such requirement is stated as a permit prerequisite anywhere on the City site. The Residential Permits page does note that the City maintains 'a list of contractors' that includes 'only contractors that own a business in Eureka and have a Eureka business license' — but that is a condition of appearing on a referral list, not a published condition of pulling a permit or doing the work. No bond or insurance requirement was found.
What the permit costs
Not published in a retrievable form. The Residential Permits page gives no amounts and instructs residents to 'call the Building Department at 636-938-5233 to request an emailed invoice of your payment amount,' noting that 'credit card fees will be added to online payment transactions.'.
Local quirks
Eureka runs a hybrid code stack: its own 2018 IBC (commercial/industrial) and 2018 IRC (one- and two-family), but St. Louis County's Existing Building Code (SLC Ordinance No. 27,654, approved April 1, 2020), County Mechanical Code (approved December 5, 2019) and County Explosives Code (approved November 6, 1997). Section 5-3.6 'Structures — Prohibited Materials' looks at first glance like a siding-material restriction but is not: it reads 'No materials may be utilized in the construction of structures within the City that are pervious to gaseous material in such a manner so as to require any continuous or periodic mechanized or pressurized means of introducing any gaseous material into such structure to maintain or restore its designed shape, height, width or function' — an air-supported/inflatable-structure ban, with an exception for temporary promotional inflatables. It places no restriction on siding, vinyl, or exterior wall coverings.
Who to call
- Building dept
- 636-938-5233
- Official
- Not published. Any site printing a name here is guessing.
- Permits
- Department page
How Eureka compares with the rest of St. Louis County
Same county, same climate, same houses. Not the same rules.
| Place | Permit to re-side | Permit for a window | Window must meet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eureka | Depends | Depends | — |
| Affton | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Ballwin | Yes | Yes | — |
| Brentwood | Yes | Not published | U-0.28 |
| Chesterfield | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Clayton | Yes | Yes | U-0.30 |
| Creve Coeur | Not published | No | U-0.35 |
| Des Peres | Yes | Yes | U-0.32 |
| Ellisville | Not published | Not published | — |
| Florissant | Depends | Yes | U-0.30 |
| Kirkwood | Not published | Not published | U-0.30 |
| Manchester | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Maryland Heights | Not published | Yes | U-0.35 |
| Mehlville | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Oakville | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| Richmond Heights | Not published | Not published | U-0.28 |
| Town and Country | Depends | No | — |
| Unincorporated St. Louis County | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
| University City | Depends | Yes | U-0.32 |
| Webster Groves | Yes | Yes | U-0.35 |
| Wildwood | Depends | Depends | U-0.34 |
Work we have done in Eureka
We have no finished work in Eureka to show you yet. This fills in as jobs land, and not before.
Where these facts came from
Everything on this page about Eureka was read off a published source. Where a question has no published answer we have said so rather than filling the gap.
Sources: eureka.mo.us · eureka.mo.us · ecode360.com · ecode360.com
Looking at a job in Eureka?
We measure egress and safety glazing on the visit, not after the order goes in.
Tell us about the house
We answer the phone. If we miss you, we call back.