Hi All,

My shower drain is leaking from 2nd floor to the sub floor. I have opened up the ceiling from my 1st floor and found out that I need to open the current shower drain lock and re-putty the shower drain.

I have been going crazy trying to open the hexagonal lock of this shower drain as shown in the picture below (picture is taken from the sub floor beneath the shower drain). I have tried all kinds of tools but had little success due to limited space.

I have an opening of about 7"x10" on the first floor ceiling but limited space to do anything. This is because the opening is right under the kitchen cabinet and the way the pipe going downward toward the ceiling and the sideway.

My question is, is there any special tools to open this lock? One of my plumber friend said that I need to use screw driver, point toward one of the corner, and pound away with a hammer. However, due to limited space, I cannot find enough momentum from my hammer to get this lock moving.

Help Help.

http://essencefinest.com/photo.jpg

Diffiuclt to tell for sure but that appears to be a glued/ welded ABs pipe so you will not be unscrewing it anytime soon. An adpator was threaded into the shower drain but the pipe was glued into the adaptor. You must cut that pipe and then unscrew the adaptor.

Hi Fredylee:

Bob is correct in fact that most socket weld shower strainers can't be loosened from the bottom, but in this case, I believe that the nut will loosen as you suspected from underneath.

Try this first, take a phillips head screwdriver and place into the holes as I have drawn in below... hit the screwdriver CLOCKWISE as indicated and this may loosen yet!

Otherwise, you could buy a shower strainer wrench (see image), but you will need to cut it (or cut and couple the pipe) to get it to slip over pipe/strainer nut. These are usually available at all home improvement stores.


Let me know what you think...

MARK

Thanks for the answers.

Yes, I agree with your answer Mark. I have tried solutions no 2, which is the screwdriver and hammer and have yet any success. I will try again later on today in the evening and see if it will be successful.

The shower strainer wrench seems to be the next best options. Hopefully it does not come to this, because this means that I will have to cut it, and do some more work to connect the pipe.

Thanks. I will post the result soon.

Look forward to your reply!

MARK

Mark,

I tried to hammer it really hard, and at prolonged time. Yet still no avail in getting it t move, not even an inch. Should I start to cut my pipe?

You have to angle screwdriver and tap the nut sideways, not straight up. It will go, it is plastic...

Hi Guys...

Milo, I think he said his issue with the screwdriver is that he can't get the leverage/space he needs to move the hammer so it is strong enough to move the screwdriver.

If you just can't get it with the screwdriver no matter what you do Fredylee...

You could always buy 2 strainer wrenches (cheap tool) and then cut one of the wrenches itself in such a way that you can bend it and slip over the 2" pipe... then slide it up (re-bend to straight) and try to hook onto the strainer nut and then see if you can loosen it that way... NO CUTTING ANY PIPE!

Or, if that fails, you will need to cut pipe, slide the strainer wrench into place and go with that... ;)

I'd order the wrenches online tonight and get them shipped 2 day or so and have them faster than if you go shopping around for them... just a thought!

Let me know what you think...

MARK

... or, he can also take a sharp wood chisel and carefully cut the nut loose.

Milo... If you read the first post he's trying NOT to do that here. He simply wants to loosen the nut, push up on strainer and set new putty or silicone in place and then re-tighten the nut. Just FYI... ;)

MARK

I have been whacking that hole with angled screw driver these past few days and it is not even moving. I tried to spray some WD40 as lubricant, but does not help.

I am going to try to find that shower strain wrench later today and see if I can get it to open with that.

Do you have room to use one of these? Adjustable Slip Nut Wrench # PST152 by PlumbShop (http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/52-301-wrenches/adjustable-slip-nut-wrench-198010.aspx) If not just cut the pipe 6" below the existing drain and use a wrench like shown in post #3. You can glue/weld a connector and new piece of pipe onto the old one.

If you own small Impact Wrench and compressor than put in point-chisel, place the point into one of the holes on the plastic nut - and apply air pressure. All you need is to break the initial seal. Once that breaks, it will go easily...

You are spending way too much time on trying to remove that nut. It is lot easier to simply cut the 2" vertical pipe, break that nut, remove the drain, buy new one and reinstall. You can connect the vertical pipe with either ABS coupling ( glue it in ) - or even easier - use 2" Flex Seal coupling. Done in 10 minutes...

I agree, I'd be using explosives before spending this much time on a repair. LOL

Hahaha, trust me. I was just thinking about the same thing and putting some mighty explosive there.

Anyway, good news. I bought a swaging tool.
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/00/0058412c-f051-4eda-ace6-10eb05e906df_300.jpg

And pound those away for the past two days. Finally I got it to open.

Now, I need some sound advice on where to put the proper putty. If understand it correctly, I need to put it on under the drain, on top of the fiberglass. Is this correct?

So
Drain, Fiberglass shower, putty, gasket, and the plastic hexagonal thing.

Do I need to put putty between fiberglass & gasket? Or between the gasket and the plastic hexagonal mount?

Thank you all for the advice.

It just opened literally 5 minutes ago before I post my post.

Hi Fredylee:

It goes, strainer/putty/fiberglass shower/rubber washer/fiber (cardboard) washer/hexagonal nut... see image. The cardboard washer is needed to reduce the friction between the neoprene washer and the hexagonal nut. Without it the hexagonal nut just never seems to tighten as much as needed.

If the cardboard washer is missing from yours you can make one, cut it and insert it in place. If you keep pushing on cardboard at the cut line while tightening it you should be able to make it stay in place. This will make a better job for you in the long run... ;)

Glad you got it worked out!

MARK

Mark,

Thanks for the quick answer. Two more questions:

How much putty do I need to put it it, and what is the best way to apply them?

And on my current washer, I got the rubber washer, but not the fiber/cardboard washer. Will this be a problem?

Thanks

Fred

Reread post #17... addresses the cardboard washer... ;)

You need to clean out the old putty as good as you can and then run a 1/2" to 3/4" ROPE of putty around the drain and push in under the strainer. The idea here is to make a SNAKE of putty and push in under strainer...

MARK

Mark, you are the best.
The rests, thanks for the advice/s.

Putty - done
Cardboard - #17 - done.
Reseal - done.

Do I need to keep trying to make it tighter everyday? Or is this done? Right now, it seemed that it is quite tight. Should I try to hammered it to get tighter everyday?

How long do I need to wait before I run the water test?

Thanks all.

There is a spanner wrench made with two prongs that will slip into two of the holes and then tap the handle end of the wrench with a hammer. Just a thought.

Thank you all for the advice/s.

Putty - done
Cardboard - #17 - done.
Reseal - done.

Do I need to keep trying to make it tighter everyday? Or is this done? Right now, it seemed that it is quite tight. Should I try to hammered it to get tighter everyday?

How long do I need to wait before I run the water test?

Thanks all.

If you used the cardboard and putty squeezed out real good upstairs you should be all set, however, if you want to tighten it a little bit more today go ahead... it can't hurt... :) You should not need to tighten it anymore after that!

You can use/test the shower right away.

MARK

Yes yes yes, run the water test yesterday and it worked just fine.

Thank you all.