[paulmars]

Any ideas what i can do to fix this without tearing out the shower?

shower drain never backs up, but pipe below it does leak below shower floor and only when taking shower. See pics.

The drain must be leaking. It gets wet inside that wall and with long showers, it leaks out onto the finished floor.

Pic 2 is the lower part of that wall you see in the other pic (red box). With that blue plastic wall cover removed.

wet with every shower where the yellow X is and then gets wet where the black X is with longer showers. shower drain is just a few inches higher and never backs up.

This shower was installed over 10 years ago and this issue just started happening in the last 8 months. Started shortly after i had the outside sewer line replaced and tenant moved in at same time. maybe coincidence. Maybe previous tenants never took long showers.

The other day we did run a snake down the shower drain at least 10 feet. that is well into the new sewer line that was replaced about 8 months ago. Its still getting wet as mentioned above after snakeing.

 

[jmon]

Can you cut an access hole in the ceiling/floor below or one from the outside of house to reach the drain? I assume that's an outside wall?

They have beautiful access covers you can install afterwards or you can make one yourself after you are done.

I'm sure you're right, but are you positive it's leaking from the shower drain and not the toilet area?

 

[paulmars]

huh? not really. block walls and Id have the same access as shown in that picture.


no wtr there after flushes. just after showers.

 

[dj3]

If what you see now concerns you, get ready for this: There's a lot more you don't see.
To do a complete job, you need to clear everything down to the framing. Don't let the framing go to h==l.
Do it now, the longer you wait, the worse it will get.

 

[chandler48]

It may not be the drain. It could be the shower stand pipe leading to the shower head leakig "only when shower is used". Of course cutting an access hole would be necessary behind the valve.

 

[subbuilder]

Just something that happened to me. The pipe to the shower head cracked and leaked down the wall, and I found the puddle in the closet behind the shower stall. I think you know how to check for that since you were so thorough with you description and picture here.

 

[Ghostmaker]

Take the valve cover plate off the valve. Run the shower and see if you have water dripping down or off the valve.

 

[paulmars]

it dont leak below the shower pan with the water on, but no weight (human body) on the pan.

 

[bruceb3]

How old is the shower? If the pan wasnt bedded in mortar, you might have stress cracks in the pan.
I had a customer that had a shower that only leaked with her 250 lb. husband in the shower. When he stood in the shower, it would open up the stress cracks and you could see droplets ooze out of the cracks.

 

[paulmars]

10 years. current renter is 140 lbs



after i remove the foam (and find and fix the leak), how about cutting some blocks to fit below the pan and using block caulking to hold in place?

 

[paulmars]

pic attached with grate removed.

 

[chandler48]

You see the notches on the side of the ring? The ring can be screwed down to expand the rubber gasket. I am sure the original spanner bar has been lost, but you can use a long nose pair of needle nose pliers to do it, too.

 

[paulmars]

it's tight and we are trying to unscrew it.

 

[chandler48]

What are you using to extract it with? What problems are you having?

 

[paulmars]

Missing rubber gasket? But it looks like the pipe is below the lower edge of the keyed drain assembly. What about using underwater rated caulking? Any other options that don't require removal of shower pan?

Everything there is 10 years old

 

[chandler48]

The gasket is not missing. It is black and goes around the pipe. The cap screws down and causes the gasket to expand and seal the drain. There should be no need to remove it unless you are removing the tub/shower.