Roofing for Belleville homes: replacement, leaks and storm damage. In Belleville, 88% of the 20,212 homes were built before 2000. Any permit the job needs is ours to pull.
Belleville runs to about 23.2 square miles and roughly 41,370 people. It sits about 14 miles southeast of downtown St. Louis. The community dates back to 1819. We cover ZIP codes 62220, 62221, 62222, 62223, 62225 and 62226.
No completed roof in Belleville is logged in our job records yet.
Belleville's housing mixes pre-1940 homes (about 26%, including German-built row houses) with mid-20th-century construction.
Belleville was founded in 1814 and incorporated as a village in 1819. It was heavily settled by German immigrants; by 1870, an estimated 90% of the population was German-born or of German descent. Their legacy includes 'German street house' row homes, alongside later American Foursquare, Queen Anne and other Victorian-era construction concentrated in the city's historic districts.
Postwar houses in Belleville are plain to roof, which is exactly why so many get roofed carelessly. Expect 1x6 board decking or early plywood: usually sound, but it should be walked, not assumed. The weak spots are the shallow pitches — a porch roof, the join to a carport, the flat section over an addition — where shingles went on below their rated slope and have leaked slowly for years. Attics from this era rarely have the ventilation today's shingle warranties ask for, and a hot, under-vented attic ages a roof from below, so intake and exhaust get measured before the quote.
Belleville has 20,212 homes in the Census Bureau's count and a median year built of 1962. 5,341 of them (26%) went up before 1940 — 7th of 48 places on this site for pre-1940 share — and 2,402 (12%) in 2000 or later. More of today's homes date from before 1940 than from any decade since. That is above St. Clair County's 13%.
About 25 years is the usual working life of a roof, by the figure Missouri's insurance department publishes. On that yardstick the 17,810 homes in Belleville built before 2000 (88%) have outlived at least one roof, and the 12,627 built before 1970 (62%) are usually on a third covering or later. The 1,772 homes from the 2000s are where first replacements come up now, while the 630 built since 2010 are mostly still on the roof they were built with. On houses that old, the question worth asking is how many layers are up there: a roof laid over an old one hides the deck.
Detached single-family houses make up 66% (13,333); attached houses and townhouses 5% (1,061). 3,936 homes (19%) sit in two- to nine-unit buildings and 1,444 (7%) in buildings of ten units or more, where a resident rarely gets to choose the roofer. The count also takes in 438 mobile homes, which are a different kind of roof job. 60% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, 40% rented. Read together, those figures point toward full tear-offs on houses past two roof lives, deck and flashing checks on pre-war board sheathing and flat and low-slope sections, which turn up more on attached and multi-unit buildings.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 5,341 | 26% | |
| 1940s | 1,672 | 8% | |
| 1950s | 2,556 | 13% | |
| 1960s | 3,058 | 15% | |
| 1970s | 1,874 | 9% | |
| 1980s | 1,896 | 9% | |
| 1990s | 1,413 | 7% | |
| 2000s | 1,772 | 9% | |
| 2010s | 522 | 3% | |
| 2020 or later | 108 | 1% |
Census ACS 2020–2024, tables B25034, B25035, B25024 and B25003: 20,212 homes, 17,646 occupied. Survey estimates.
From 2016 through 2025, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center recorded 5 reports of hail of 1 inch or more within 5 miles of Belleville’s center, spread over 5 storm days. 1 of them was 1.75 inches or larger. The largest, 1.75 inches, came on May 7, 2023, about 4.9 miles northeast of the center. The most recent was 1 inch on March 30, 2025. A report needs someone to see the hail and send it in, so the count is a floor, not a full tally.
| Latest reports | Size | From center |
|---|---|---|
| March 30, 2025 | 1 inch | 2.9 mi W |
| May 8, 2024 | 1 inch | 1.1 mi NE |
| May 14, 2023 | 1 inch | 3.6 mi E |
| May 7, 2023 | 1.75 inches | 4.9 mi NE |
| July 23, 2017 | 1 inch | 0.6 mi NE |
If one of those storms crossed your street and nobody has been on the roof since, a storm inspection photographs what it did.
Nothing Belleville publishes says whether a like-for-like re-roof needs a permit. We call the department (618-233-6817) before the job and pull whatever is required.
Belleville does not publish the code edition it currently enforces, so this page does not name one. Editions across the metro run from the 2006 IRC to the 2024 IRC — worth asking any contractor which one they are building to.
The published number is 618-233-6817. The building official on record is Steven Thouvenot, Building Commissioner (618-233-6518 x4265). Also: Scott Tyler, Director of Health, Housing & Building (618-233-6518 x4240); James Broussard, Assistant Building Commissioner (618-233-6518 x4219). The department page is here.
Belleville shares the metro's figures: 115 mph design wind, 20 psf ground snow. The code guide explains both.
Also in St. Clair County:
| City | Re-roof permit | Code | Median built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belleville | Not published | Not published | 1962 |
| Fairview Heights | Not published | Not published | 1972 |
| O'Fallon | Not published | Not published | 1997 |
| Swansea | Yes | 2006 IRC | 1993 |
All 4 St. Clair County cities side by side →
Belleville publishes no rule on it. We ask the building department first and pull whatever it requires.
Older than most people guess: the Census puts 88% of Belleville's homes before 2000 and 62% before 1970, with a median year built of 1962 (2020–2024 estimates). A roof usually lasts about 25 years, so the deck and the layers get checked before any quote.
Yes. The most recent report of hail 1 inch or larger within 5 miles of Belleville's center was 1 inch on March 30, 2025, one of 5 such reports from 2016 through 2025.
The building official on record is Steven Thouvenot, Building Commissioner. Also: Scott Tyler, Director of Health, Housing & Building; James Broussard, Assistant Building Commissioner. The department's own number is on this page, beside its name.
It can. Belleville has Belleville Historic District, Old Belleville Historic District, Hexenbuckel Historic District and Oakland Historic District. Inside a designated district, changing a visible roof material or color can need preservation review before the permit is issued. Like-for-like replacement usually raises fewer questions, but we check before quoting.
Not yet: no completed roof in Belleville is in our job records, so this page shows no job count.
Researched 2026-09-09; housing, Census ACS 2020–2024; hail, NOAA SPC. Sources: www.belleville.net · www.belleville.net · www.belleville.net · codelibrary.amlegal.com · en.wikipedia.org · censusreporter.org · www.point2homes.com · data.census.gov · www.spc.noaa.gov. Rules and staff change; check with the jurisdiction.
