Murfreesboro, TN Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

City Code § 23-1 adopts the 2024 International Plumbing Code, with Appendix B, for all construction, installation, alteration, replacement, enlargement, repair and maintenance of plumbing systems and system components inside the City or connected to the City water and/or sewerage systems. A copy sits on file in the office of the City Recorder. The 2024 edition arrived through Ord. No. 26-O-34, adopted 9-3-26, which is the latest entry in the section's history line. Tennessee authorizes this kind of adoption by reference in T.C.A. § 6-54-502.

The split between the two codes turns on building type. Plumbing in one and two-family dwellings and in multiple single-family dwellings (townhouses) not more than three stories high with separate means of egress, plus their accessory structures, falls under the International Residential Code. Everything else, including commercial, institutional and larger multifamily buildings, falls under the International Plumbing Code.

Section 23-2 then rewrites parts of the model code for Murfreesboro. Section 103.1 names the Building and Codes Department as the agency. Section 105.2 adds a permit exemption for emergency repairs: they can be made at night, on weekends and holidays, and during a natural disaster without a permit first, but a permit must be obtained within the next two working days unless the work type is exempt. Section 108.2 hands permit fees to the City Council, and Section 108.6 has the Council adopt the refund policy. Under Section 108.4, the Chief Building Official can waive the doubling of the established fee for work started before a permit when the applicant shows good cause.

Technical changes are specific. Pipe must be placed on No. 67 bedding with at least six inches of No. 67 stone over the top (Section 306.3). Hot or tempered water supply to fixtures moves from 50 feet to 100 feet (Section 607.2). The minimum air gap is two inches (Sections 608.16.1 and 802.3.1). Roof extensions are six inches (Section 903.1.1). Restaurants, institutional indoor commercial kitchens, and food wholesalers or retailers may not use garbage disposals, and grease interceptors must be a type, capacity and location approved by the Murfreesboro Water Resources Department. Wastewater above 150 degrees Fahrenheit is prohibited (Section 702.5).

Commercial buildings can install re-purified water systems only for water closets, toilets and urinals. The permit goes through the Chief Building Official, but no permit issues without the written approval of the Director of the Murfreesboro Water Resources Department, and the piping must be purple and labeled "NON-POTABLE - DO NOT DRINK" at no more than four feet apart.