What Are Bargeboards?

Where bargeboards sit and what they do

A gable roof has two sloping sides that meet at a ridge, and at each end of the house the roof finishes in a triangular gable wall. The sloping edge of the roof along that wall is called the verge. The bargeboard is the board fixed to the underside of the verge, hanging down like a fringe. It covers the ends of the horizontal roof timbers, called purlins and rafters, which would otherwise be open to the weather.

It has two jobs. It keeps rain and wind from driving into the roof timbers at the edge, and it gives the gable a clean line. Behind it, the tiles or slates at the verge are held down by a mortar bed or by a dry-fix verge system, and the bargeboard sits just beneath. Fascias do the same job along the eaves, and our page on what fascias, soffits and guttering are shows the difference.

Styles and materials

Plain bargeboards are flat boards, often 150 to 225 mm deep, fixed square to the wall. Decorative bargeboards, common on Victorian and Edwardian houses, are carved or cut in patterns, with finials at the peak and sometimes a pendant at the apex. Cottages and Arts and Crafts houses had heavy shaped boards that are a main feature of the front.

Materials include:

• Painted softwood: traditional, easy to shape, but needs repainting and rots if water gets behind it.
• Hardwood: lasts longer and suits listed or period work, at a higher price.
• uPVC: a plain, low-maintenance board, common on 1970s onwards houses, in white, brown or woodgrain.
• Composite or cladding boards: a newer option that looks like timber and resists rot.

Carved boards on a protected house are part of its character, so the conservation officer at the council is the person to ask before any are swapped for plain plastic. Copying a pattern in new timber is often possible when the old board is beyond saving, and a joiner can cut a template from what remains.

Problems and how to spot them

Bargeboards take the worst weather because they stand at the edge of the roof and the wall. They face wind-driven rain, and the ends at the bottom of the slope sit where water collects. Rot starts at the lower ends and at the joints, and shows as flaking paint, soft timber, dark patches and splits. A board that droops or has pulled away from the wall is often pinned to rotted timber behind it. Wasps, birds and bees also find the gap behind a loose board, as discussed in birds nesting in soffits and fascias.

Plastic bargeboards crack, warp or yellow like plastic fascias. They do not rot, but the timber behind can. At the verge, a failed mortar bed or loose tiles let water in above the board and soak it from the back. Check the whole verge, not just the board, as a gable that leaks into the loft is a roof fault as well as a board fault.

Look at the paint line as well. Gaps where the board meets the wall, cracked filler and bubbling paint all let water behind the surface. Because the board is vertical, the water does not run off the top as it would from a horizontal rail, and it works into the end grain at the bottom of each length. A bargeboard that is maintained with a sound paint film and sealed joints can outlast one that is left, which is the reason many owners repaint the gable ends every few years.

Repair, replace or leave

A small patch of rot in a timber board can sometimes be cut out and repaired with a section of new timber, then primed and painted. If the board is rotten along its length or the timber behind is soft, replacement is better. The roofer takes the board off, checks the purlin and rafter ends, repairs or replaces them and fits the new board with the correct overhang and fixings. This is often done together with the fascias, soffits and gutters, so the whole roofline matches, and the sequence is described in the roofline replacement process.

The verge needs attention while the board is off. BS 5534:2014 requires mechanical fixing of verge components, so mortar alone is not relied on. A bargeboard replacement is a chance to check that the verge is fixed securely. Our free survey photographs the gable ends, probes the timber, and tells you what is rotten and what is sound. The guttering, soffits and fascias hub describes the rest of the service, and fixed written figures follow the visit. If the gable ends are the only trouble, we can price those alone, though doing them with the fascias shares the access.