I don't have anyone to ask about my plumbing problem - I just moved into a house - the first time I'm responsible for my own maintenance after years of apartment living.

The shower in the basement (the basement was recently remodeled but I don't know if the shower was in constant use or not) started backing up into the drain outside of the shower a week after I began using it. It smells like sewage. The backing up and sewage smell appeared a few days later in the shower drain itself.

The weird thing is, I tried to snake the drain outside of the shower and it doesn't seem to have any holes leading anywhere (I put on a glove, reached around, and still couldn't find where it drains), and it drains very slowly. It's just about 3 inches deep. What is this drain for??

Every other plumbing fixture in the house works fine, including basement laundry, toilets, showers, sinks. Nothing else causes the basement drain to back up except the basement shower.

Is it a plug? A trap issue? Should I try the bleach/hot water method? I just don't know where to start and I don't want to pay a plumber before trying to see what I can do myself. I have a second bathroom I can use in the meantime (also, there is no toilet in the basement, just a shower).

I know I'm pretty clueless, but info on the "mystery drain" or different troubleshooting tips would be so appreciated.

Hey Rebecca,

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I don't have anyone to ask about my plumbing problem -

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You have a whole bunch of plumbers here just waiting to help.

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The weird thing is, I tried to snake the drain outside of the shower and it doesn't seem to have any holes leading anywhere (I put on a glove, reached around, and still couldn't find where it drains), and it drains very slowly. It's just about 3 inches deep. What is this drain for?

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Let's take this one at a time
1) what drain did you try to snake that was "outside the shower"? Was it the floor drain that doesn't seem to have any holes leading anywhere?
2)

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(I put on a glove, reached around, and still couldn't find where it drains), and it drains very slowly. It's just about 3 inches deep. What is this drain for?

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Are we still asking about a floor drain? And is this "mystery drain"still the floor drain?
If I under stand you correctly you have a shower that backs up out of a floor drain. Am I correct so far? If so then:
You have a blockage downstream from the floor drain,(see images) The solution would be to remove the strainer and snake the floor drain. Run out about 16 feet of snake to get to the main. Good luck, Tom

Thank you for the feedback!

I think I can narrow this down to two questions:

Should I be snaking the floor drain (outside the shower)? Because that drain is the "drain that doesn't seem to have any holes") - not only can I not put a snake down the drain, but I can't find any way to put ANYTHING down the drain, and the water in the drain now doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I know the standing water isn't normal, but is it normal to have a floor drain that doesn't have any "holes"?

I can probably snake the drain in the shower. Should I start there?

Please explain what you mean by "holes"? Are you looking for a place in the floor drain to run your snake down? If so the strainer has two screws that secure it. Then simply run your snake down the drain and past the trap. Put out about 18 feet to get out in the main. B After you remove the strainer look and see if the floor drain has a built in cleanout,(see black FD image). If so you can remove the plug and bypass the trap. If by "hole" you mean something else click on back and tell me about it. Good luck, Tom

I think the best way to explain my problem is to include a picture. In my basement, the drain in the shower is about 3 feet from the floor drain. When I use the shower, the shower drain smells and the drain in the floor backs up (fills with water and overflows) and also smells.

As you see in the picture, the floor http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3...aininghole.jpgdrain here doesn't seem to have any outlets. Any water poured down it drain out, but I would say at about the rate of a few inches a day.

So my problem is that I don't want to mess up anything by troubleshooting. Plus I have no idea what the function of this "mystery drain" is.

Does this make sense? :)

I still have a problem understanding exactly you're explaining to me. If that's the floor drain does the strainer unscrew? By "outlets" do you mean clean-outs?

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Plus I have no idea what the function of this "mystery drain" is.

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What "mystery drain" ? Are you asking the function of as floor drain? Please explain to me why the strainer can't be removed and the floor drain snaked? Regards, tom

Hi all:

Rebecca, that looks like a capped drain pipe to me..? In fact, if I'm seeing this right, that picture is a leaded in cap.. Is that possibly why there is no strainer? Perhaps the cap has a few micro holes or the lead has some holes that allow the water to drain ridiculously slow, but it looks like they capped the pipe off to keep anyone from using the shower at all!

A floor drain would definitely have a strainer with screws... perhaps that was pulled out and the pipe capped..?

If the drain is capped then the cap would need to be removed and a PTRAP with strainer would need to be installed in order to use the shower in the future.

Any chance you can post another picture showing the entire floor/pipe area?

Let us know...

MARK

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http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4...dfloordrai.jpg
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4484/floordrain.jpg
http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/1830/showerdrain.jpg
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/478...viewofroom.jpg

As you can see in the pictures above, the two drains (bathroom and shower) are quite close together. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, much less anything mentioned by the home inspector.

As you can see in the pictures above, the drain originally had a strainer over it, which I removed. It was after I removed it and let the water slowly drain that I noticed the drain's hole didn't go anywhere. You think the "mystery drain" is capped?

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leaded in cap.. Is that possibly why there is no strainer? Perhaps the cap has a few micro holes or the lead has some holes that allow the water to drain ridiculously slow, but it looks like they capped the pipe off to keep anyone from using the shower at all! A floor drain would definitely have a strainer with screws... perhaps that was pulled out and the pipe capped..?

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If the floor drain pipe was capped, how does water gush upwards so quickly?

More importantly, the people who owned the home before USED the shower (although they recently renovated the basement bathroom) so why would they cap the pipe if this would prevent use of the shower?

By the way, the "cap" - if that's what it is, looks a little like the bottom of a glass bottle.

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If the drain is capped then the cap would need to be removed and a PTRAP with strainer would need to be installed in order to use the shower in the future.

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I see that I need professional help and that snaking the drain is the least of my problems!

OK... all looks reasonable here... ;) You have a shower drain and what looks to be an ordinary floor drain... except the cap/bottle?

I can't say what the bottle looking thing is exactly but if it looks like glass maybe it is and can just be broken out using a hammer and chisel (wear glasses if you attempt this).

Otherwise, right now if you run the shower....does it back up anywhere? Let me know. If it backs up quickly then you will want to snake the drain from the shower OR if you can remove the cap/bottle snake the drain through that trap. The snake will run into pretty major resistance as it attempts to negotiate the TRAP of the drains so the snake I see in your picture is not going to really work here. I mean hey, try it, but what you really need is a power snake to negotiate the trap (see image). These can be rented at any tool rental store (use leather gloves).

If the shower won't backup for you when running water tonight then I actually start to think it is possible that your MAIN DRAIN LINE has a partial blockage that only surfaces during extreme use. You could test this by running the tub and flushing toilets and opening faucets all at the same time and see what happens at the floor drain/shower. If water shows up at these points during this test then the main drain is clogged and will need to be snaked using a larger electric snake (not shown).

Finally, snaking TRAPS isn't easy even for plumbers....you may need to think about calling in a plumber to help...doesn't look like a big job!

Let me know about the drains, do the tests... then we can work further on the cap/bottle... O.K.?

MARK

If I may offer a comment here;

I think some one installed a shower and tied it into the floor drain. When it began to back up through the floor drain they put something in the floor drain to try to block it. Sounds like a glass container of some kind. If I am correct, that object may be the cause of the present blockage.
I wouldn't want to break it go get it out unless I had to. I think I would run some water in the shower and have someone plunge the shower drain while I watched what was happening at the floor drain to see if there was any movement.

If there was any movement I would attempt to remove it by attaching a wooden dowel using an epoxy adhesive. If it is not wedge to tightly and you have a good strong shop vacuum you might be able to get it out that way.

Just thoughts from the peanut gallery.