TL;DR
A downspout strainer is the wire cage, foam plug, or perforated basket seated in a gutter's outlet hole to stop leaves and shingle grit from washing into the leader and packing it solid. It is the cheapest insurance in the gutter system, a few dollars per drop, and it concentrates debris where a homeowner can lift it out by hand rather than where a plumber's snake must find it.
What it means
A downspout strainer is the wire cage, foam plug, or perforated basket seated in a gutter's outlet hole to stop leaves and shingle grit from washing into the leader and packing it solid. It is the cheapest insurance in the gutter system, a few dollars per drop, and it concentrates debris where a homeowner can lift it out by hand rather than where a plumber's snake must find it. The trade-off is honest: strainers themselves mat over with leaves and need clearing several times a season, or they convert the outlet into a dam that overflows the gutter.
Where it sits in the glossary
Downspout strainer is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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