What is a Barge Board?
A barge board is the wooden board found on a home that runs up the A frame of a gable. Another way to think of it is a more vertical fascia board. If you’re familiar with fascia boards, you know that they run along the eave where the gutter would mount. Barge boards are found in the gable, running at some type of angle that is more vertical than a standard horizontal fascia board.
A barge board is the finished product of a gable, not the end rafter or the exterior rafter. Once you put in your end rafters, you would put one up to cover the rafters up for weatherproofing. You can paint it if it was clouded with some type of metal or if it was a maintenance-free product.
Barge boards are commonly used on any home that has a gable. Regardless of whether the frame is low pitch or high pitch, the finished product is usually going to have a barge board on it.
What Size Do Barge Boards Come in?
Sizes vary and you can actually design and build them any size that you want. Typically, you will find a 5.5 inch by 3/4 inch barge board which is commonly known as a one by six. The 1×8 or 1×10 may also be used depending on the type of construction. You may see a 2×4 used in some of the lower quality construction. On rare occasions you might see a tube used for barge board and cladding with aluminum.
Is it Considered a Luxury Item?
The barge board does have the ability to make a home look more decorative so it can be thought of as a luxury item. The Dutch style of construction is most common for designing and tailoring and really adding a lot of detail. These designs could be hand carved, laser cut or even custom built like cabinetry, where they have a specific design. You might see floral, webbed, boxed or colonial style designs.