Hello, I am remodeling the master bath. The house was built in '71. We have removed the entire shower and are down to studs and cement. The shower drain appears to have some sort of iron flange on it. We need to remove this in order to move the drain over 1.5 inches. We need to move it because we are installing a vikrell shower floor made by sterling and it has a precut hole for the shower drain. I have already found an offset shower drain made by oatey that looks perfect for what we are trying to do. The problem is I have no idea how to remove this old metal flange. When I grab ahold of it the entire drain moves with it. Does anyone know how to get this off? My husband wants to chisel down around it in the concrete slab of the house and cut it off. Any better suggestions? Or do you know how far down these metal flanges go on the pvc so we have some idea how far down in the slab we are going to have to go? Please help?! :eek:

A few questions before we can do much helping. Sounds like this is a slab construction, correct? Your shower has a 2" drain with a trap below the concrete. That whole thing needs to come out in most cases. Can you give me a link to Oatey's offset drain?

http://www.oatey.com/shower_drains/lit/subs/103_Series.pdf

Yes it is a concrete slab, ranch style house. There is a link above to see a pic of the offset drain. We were hoping that we would be able to use the offset drain so we didn't have to take out the p-trap. (Hoping to avoid a massive break up of the foundation of the house.)Basically we wanted to leave the plumbing the way it is and just take off the metal flange so we could attach the offset drain and be on our merry way.:D Too naïve?

It sounds like you have a lead and oakum joint securing that flange. To remove a poured lead and oakum joint take a 3/8" drill bit and drill a few holes down past the lead and into the oakum.. Push a screwdriver under the lead ring and lever it up. Once it's free you can began to peel the lead ring out. Now pick out the oakum and you can pull the joint apart. Good luck, Tom

Ballenger b1 - I just notice you are from Wheaton, Il. Small world, we are in Florida now but I grew up in Wheaton and attended elementary school there!

Thanks for the link, I had not seen/used this offset but it does appear to be exactly what you need.

Thanks for all your help guys! My husband read your advice and we were able to get the flange off. I really appreciate the help. (:o The flange actually broke into two pieces while removing it.)