Do Fascia Board Sizes Matter?
Finding the appropriate fascia board sizes based on your gutter project should not be a significant issue. It’s fairly easy to find an adequate size for the type of gutter that you are installing because of available options and customization. Typically, residential home fascia boards will be suitable for installing most gutter systems
There are three sizes however, that are most common for gutters. Sizes can vary based on the architect design of the home, the budget of the builder, or personal preference. There is no true rhyme or reason as to why certain sizes are chosen.
Fascia Board Sizes #1 - 1x6
This boards nominal size is five and a half by three quarters. This is the most common fascia board you will find. Usually you have a 2×4 sub fascia behind this fascia board. Standard gutter size for residential homes is five or six inches.
At the backside of a 5 inch gutter, the fascia board mounting area will be four inches tall. On a six inch gutter, the mounting area is 5 inches. This leaves a little bit of additional space below the gutter. If the gutter is dropped for change the pitch, you may see a little bit less fascia board beneath the gutter.
Fascia Board Sizes #2 - 2x4
A lot of construction happened in the early 2000s with track builders using 2x for fascia boards. This made for a difficult situation when trying to use six inch gutter because the gutter was bigger than the fascia board. Fascia boards of this size made the gutters hard to maintain and they didn’t look right.
Fascia Board Sizes #3 - 1x8
Occasionally on bigger homes builders will use a 1×8 for the fascia board if they are trying to achieve a heavy craftsman look on a more dominant structure. A fascia board of this size gives a beefy architectural look to the construction. The nominal size of a 1×8 is seven and a quarter inches.
Conclusion
It really doesn’t matter what size fascia board you choose. If you have gutters, you will just want to make sure the gutter is able to fit completely on the fascia board. You could have issues with different size fascia boards depending on what type of brackets you use and what you use to adhere them with. There are options for all sizes so the problem only arises if you fail to match your fascia board size with the appropriate gutter supports. The biggest reason you would take fascia board size into consideration is aesthetics.
