I discovered a leak from my 2nd floor fiberglass stall shower drain. I opened up the ceiling below to view/access the leaking drain pipe and had a plumber give me a bid on repairing. His solution was to remove the old cast iron drain and replace with pvc. Quote seemed excessive to me - does $875 sound within the ballpark?

Show us a picture.

How much pipe is he going to replace ?

Hey Tampa, Greetings from Sarasota I plumbed up there back in the 60's.
Cast Iron drain huh? Is it caulked on with a poured lead joint? Was he going to replace the cast iron trap raiser when he converted to PVC? Regards, tom

His bid covered replacing the connection at the shower floor, the cast iron U- or J-shaped (not sure which the shape would be onsidered in plumber's terms) drain and join it to the horizontal drain line... that's it. I know it's a tight space to work, but we're not talking rocket science or a lot of materials... so what do you think of $750-$879 for this (Initial price was $879 and he 'discounted' it to $750)? I had anticipated the repair to cost no more than half that... maybe I'm dreaming... but if I am, it's going to be a nightmare because I know that I have an upstairs bathtub with a similar problem...

Here are picks looking up through the opening in the ceiling below to the shower floor above.

If you are only handy - you can fix it yourself. How handy are you ?

I think the estimate is little high. You must be located in big City. Material will cost him not more than $40.00 and it will take him 1 hour to do. You are not "...dreaming..." about lower price. I think you should not pay more than $350.00 for the job. Try to get more plumbers over for free estimate. Times are bad these days and lots of shops are hurting for work. Leverage is on your side...

Btw: thanks for the photos. Great visuals make our advice precise and down to the point !

Additionally: can you post photo of the drain from above, from inside of the shower ? I think you may have different than leaded seal...

From your pictures I think the leak isn't from any fittings that have gone bad. I think there's a little bit of "give" around the drain that ruptured the drain seal and that's the cause of your leak. How you test for a ruptured drain seal is to close off nthe drain and fill the base with 1/2 inch of water. If you see water coming out around the base the you have a ruptured drain seal.
This is a condition caused by not bedding the base on installation . Figure around 100$ a hour labor $750 sound like it's a little high on labor. If this were my call I would first replace the drain seal with plumbers putty or silicon jel, then since the botton's open I would puddle cement or mortar under the base and aeound the drain and let it set up. That's what I would do ionstead of tearing out fittings that look good to me. Now that you know what's wrong get another plumber in there and see if he can give youu better options then the last one did. Good luck and let me jnow what happens. Tom

Milo & Speedball, good information and good advice - Thanks! I am going to start with the easy fix first... scrape and then silicone around the drain from the shower floor and see if that does it... before going to plan B and getting other bids for more extensive repairs. I am in the suburbs on the outskirts of northern Los Angeles county, but even with the 'big city rates' I really anticipated the bid to replace the drain fitting would be arount $400, and not the more than double amount I got!

This board, and guys like you are lifesaves for the single female homeowner! ~Big Hugs~

LaTampa: are you located in 91324 or 91325 zip code on Tampa Avenue , in San Fernando Valley ? Let me know... I could refer you to somebody reliable, professional, and responsible to do your repair...

Actually, I'm "over the hill" from that zip code, in 91355... which is not all that far from 91325. Referrals to competent, trustworthy service professionals always welcome!

"Latampa" refers neither to the city in FLA or the street in the San Fernando Valley. It is actually an acronym of my family's names. :)

Ok, do one of these:

1. Call Residential Plumbing Company, Inc. (RPC. Inc.) at 818/692-2028. They are based in Chatsworth, right over the hill from you. It is a small plumbing company and have been in business in the Valley since the 80's. It is run by this really nice, knowledgeable fella who always went out his way to finish the job to customer's satisfaction. ( Sorry, I cannot recall his name - it have been "few" years... ) Tell him Milo referred him. Maybe may still remember me...

2. Call "Fisher Plumbing 'n' Drain Cleaning". They are based in Northridge. It is a family run business. We have been referring them to our customers since early 90's, when we stopped doing own drain cleaning. They are priced well and nobody never complained back to us about their work.

3. Call "Larry 'n' Joe's Plumbing Supply" store. It is one of the last "Mom 'n' Pop's" plumbing stores. They have 3 stores. They are located at: Corbin & Nordoff in Nothridge (818/349-2540), Vanowen & Reseda in Reseda (818/345-6103), and Sepulveda & Devonshire in Mission Hills (818/365-9596). I think the Mission Hills store is closest to you - but I would call the Norhridge store. It iis their main store and corporate office as well. They always have few numbers handy for referrals. Their referrals are small, responsible, plumbers. We used to do installations for the store back in the 90's.


Get back to us and let us know how you did !

The pictures made a difference, I did not respond to this earlier. Speedball may be right on the money, but if not this is an eaasy fix if you're handy. That Cast Iron trap is still available for purchase from a plumbing supply. It is held on with Fernco clamp fittings, just like hose clamps. Simply loosen the clamps, remove the trap, and put the new one in. It would be worth it to replace the 'clamps' as well. You would have it done for under $ 100.