The fascia board on the Gable end of a home is called a “barge rafter”. Often these rafters extend past the eaves to create a place to hide the end of the gutter or as a decorative element. It is important that the top edge be properly flashed with either roofing materials or a metal flashing to prevent decay/rot in the ends of the rafter. This first picture shows good examples of nicely capped barge rafters (foreground and background).
NOTE: the Beautiful Blue Seattle Sky
This next picture shows what will happen if it is not properly capped.
In this case more than the end is deteriorated and most likely the whole rafter will need to be replaced. Fortunately the roof needs replacement as well, which will make replacement of the rafter easier—and should be replaced in conjunction with the roof replacement (these rafters are very difficult to replace without removing the roofing above it).
If the ends of the rafters on your home are not properly capped it is a pretty simple thing to fix and can save a lot of costly repairs later on.
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