I have a walk in shower that was built in the late 1920s. I use it quite frequently until a few weeks ago the drain started to back up water into the stall. I tried to clear out the drain with a snake and got a bunch of hair and then all of a sudden black sludge started coming out of the floor drain. The drain does work it just takes it a long time to drain all the water. I have tried baking soda and vinegar and even bleach poured down the drain but nothing has worked. I don't have the money to call a professional and I am lost as to what I can do next to fix the drain. The drain is really slow but still works so I am wondering if it is built up oil and grease instead of hair because I have cleared all the hair out that was in the pipe. What should I do next? Try boiling water and see if it flushes the rest of the debris out?

Hi Tina

You need to snake the drain again, only this time, snake past the PTRAP of the shower drain. Here, you may need a little help as you spin the snake and have someone push the snake into the drain as you spin it until you get past the U-shaped PTRAP. Once you are past the PTRAP the rest of the snaking job should go easily/quickly. Plan on putting out about 5-10 feet of snake at a maximum and go in and out, back and forth numerous times to be sure to clear the drain well.

Once you have snaked the drain multiple times take hot water (from shower... no boiling water) from the shower and let it run for 5 minutes to help flush/clear the line.

Hopefully, that will get the drain up and running well!

Mark

I'm with Mark on this but need to ask what kind of snake did you use.

I see why you are asking Harold, always good to have your input!

Also all, please notice that at my post above I said, "let it run for 5 minutes "... that's just plain wrong. Running the hot water for a minute or so is plenty of time to flush the drain clear (site wouldn't let me edit post). Thanks!