Regarding what I believe are called waterboards; the bottom most board where
a house has the typical horizontal wood clapboards:

- do these really serve any purpose ?

- seems to me that they would collect more water when it rains, and be more
of a problem than not having them ?
Not having them would, I think, allow the water to run down off of the
clapboards to the ground a lot easier, and not provide any collection
points. True ?

- if you do have them, is metal flashing used behind them ?

The one adv. I can think of, perhaps, is that they would allow the wood to
come down a bit lower and overlap the foundation /sill a bit ? And,
decoration, I guess.

Used much anymore (New England) ?

Any thoughts would be most appreciated ?

Thanks,
B.