Window and siding replacement in Florissant
What the code and the permit desk actually require here — and what the houses in Florissant tend to be hiding behind the siding.
- People
- 52,533
- Homes
- 22,710
- Size
- 12.86 square miles
- From downtown
- About 14 miles north
- ZIP codes
- 63031, 63032, 63033, 63034
- Founded or incorporated
- 1785
Florissant has a city Landmarks and Historic Districts Commission and a large historic core (Old Town / St. Ferdinand) with properties dating to the 1790s, surrounded by a huge ring of 1947-1980 postwar housing.
Florissant
Around 18,000 houses were built in Florissant between 1947 and 1980 as the city's population surged toward a mid-1970s peak near 76,000 -- making its housing stock overwhelmingly postwar/mid-century, aside from the older Old Town core.
What that vintage turns up
Original single-pane aluminium and wood units, most of which have been replaced at least once by now — which means what you are usually looking at is a first-generation replacement window from the 1990s, not the original. Aluminium frames of this age conduct cold straight through and sweat in January, which is what people are describing when they say a room feels draughty in a house with no measurable draught.
Aluminium siding was the default for years and a lot of it is still up. It does not rot and it does not burn; what it does is chalk, so the factory finish oxidises to a powder that comes off on your hand, and it dents and never un-dents. The honest decision on aluminium in decent shape is repaint against replace, and repainting is often the right answer. Later in this window, hardboard and wood-composite lap started going up, and that material has a litigation history rather than a maintenance history.
The one to watch on a house of this age
Plywood and board sheathing under this vintage holds up better than the OSB that came later, which means rot found here is usually local to a flashing failure rather than general. Find the leak, not just the soft spot.
Lead paint. Likely on anything built before 1978, and the rule does not care how much paint there is. 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 Old Town.
Historic districts
Florissant has 3: Florissant Old Town Historic District (locally designated, 1969), St. Ferdinand Central Historic District (National Register) and City of St. Ferdinand Multiple Resource Area (156 blocks, properties dating 1790-1940). This matters more for windows than for almost any other kind of work. A visible change to a window on a designated property can need preservation review before a building permit will issue, and in the strictest districts in this metro the material the window is made of is written into the ordinance. Which local rules bite, and which are only advisory.
Next door
Florissant shares a boundary with Hazelwood, Ferguson, Black Jack and Old Jamestown. 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 Florissant
Siding replacement Conditional
Florissant amends IRC Section R105.2 (Work exempt from permit) to ADD a local item 11: 'Removal and installation of exterior coverings provided the work does not interfere with other required systems or components. All newly installed exterior coverings and roofing materials must match the existing in appearance and color, texture and profile so as not to promote visual blight and shall be constructed in a workmanlike manner.' Re-siding is therefore expressly listed among work exempt from permit - but the exemption is conditioned both on not interfering with other required systems or components AND on the new covering matching the existing in appearance, color, texture and profile. A re-side that changes the look of the house does not sit inside the exemption as written. Florissant also amends item 6 to read 'Painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops and similar finish work, unless it interferes with another required system, component, safety condition or requirement.'.
Window replacement, same opening Permit required Enlarging or cutting an opening Permit required
Basis is the structure of the adopted code rather than a window-specific sentence: the 2021 IRC as adopted at City Code Section 500.060 (Ord. No. 8748, 11-22-2021, as amended by Ord. Nos. 8875, 9024 and 9071) requires a permit for alteration and repair unless the work appears in Section R105.2, and Florissant's amended R105.2 list - which the city took the trouble to extend with a local exterior-coverings item - does not include windows, glazing, glass or storm windows in any form. Note the asymmetry this creates: the city wrote an express exemption for exterior coverings but not for windows. Neither the same-opening case nor the enlarged/new-opening case is called out separately in published text. Confirm with Public Works (314-839-7648) before relying on it - the city's own Permits page invites exactly that call: 'If you are planning a project, you may call the public works office at 314-839-7648 to find out if a permit is required.'.
A replacement window here has to be U-0.30 or lower
City Code Section 500.220 (Chapter 500, Article IX, Energy Conservation Code): 'The International Energy Conservation Code, 2021 Edition, as published by the International Code Council, Inc., one (1) copy of which was on file in the office of the City Clerk for a period of ninety (90) days prior to the adoption of this Chapter.
That figure comes from the 2021 edition this jurisdiction has adopted.
A window fitted here must also carry an SHGC of 0.40 or lower.
For comparison, ENERGY STAR asks for U-0.25 or lower with an SHGC of 0.40 or lower everywhere in this metro, which is stricter than every code edition in force here. And the code only bites when the sash and the glazing are replaced together — replace the glass alone in an existing sash, or add a storm window over the top, and it does not apply.
What the permit costs
City Code Chapter 500 (Building Permit and Other Fees article): the minimum permit charge is '$95.00 where no plan review is required' for both residential and commercial work; otherwise the fee is derived from a rate table applied to total cost of construction (e.g. $3.60 per thousand for residential construction over $680,000). No flat fee specific to residing or window replacement is published - such work falls under residential alteration/repair and starts at the $95 minimum. The city's permit submission requirements sheet separately lists 'Quick issue permits: $95.00 Fee' and residential occupancy inspection at '$75 Vacant' / '$150 Occupied.'.
Local quirks
The most distinctive published rule found in this metro: Florissant is the only jurisdiction here that writes a re-siding exemption into its amended IRC R105.2 and then attaches an aesthetic condition to it - new exterior coverings and roofing 'must match the existing in appearance and color, texture and profile so as not to promote visual blight.' That is a design-control requirement embedded in a permit-exemption clause rather than in a design-review ordinance, and it means a colour or profile change on a re-side is the trigger that pulls the job back into permitting. Second item: the city's Permits page lists a long roster of permitted work (fences, pools, decks and porches, sheds, room additions, basement remodeling, garages, fireplaces, patio covers, electrical, plumbing, water heaters, furnaces and A/C) that mentions neither siding nor windows, so the codified R105.2 is the only place the answer exists. Contractor bonding and insurance is handled through a Smartsheet form under the Engineering Department rather than the Building Division.
Who to call
- Building dept
- 314-839-7648
- Official
- Debra Irvin, Building Commissioner
- Permits
- Department page
How Florissant 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florissant | Depends | Yes | U-0.30 |
| 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 | — |
| Eureka | Depends | Depends | — |
| 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 Florissant
No completed job in Florissant on the books. Every other page on this site is sourced, so this one stays honest too.
Where these facts came from
Everything on this page about Florissant was read off a published source. Where a question has no published answer we have said so rather than filling the gap.
Sources: florissantmo.com · florissantmo.com · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · ecode360.com · florissantmo.com
Thinking about it in Florissant?
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