Our shower in our upstairs bathroom does not have an s-trap. Is there a more simple fix to this than tearing out the entire shower?

Shower don't usually have an S trap but they are trapped in the space below your floor. Take us back in time and tell us how you made this discovery and how does the shower currentky operate.

You shouldn't have to tear the shower out, just cut a moderate hole in the ceiling below. ''S'' traps are a thing of the past. Trouble is, to instal the code compliant ''P'' traps, you have to have a vent where it turns from horizontal to vertical after the trap. If the stack it drains into doesn't have a vent, it could be a mess.

Unless your shower drain sets over a wall or a chase I doubt very much that a "S" trap's applicable. Besides, "S" trap are illegal in every state and Canada. How old is your house? Have you pulled the shower strainer and checked to see if there's water down there? Put a stick down there and measure the water level. If there's 2 or 3 inches of water down there then you're trapped. If not then you have a direct connection to the sewer allowing sewer gas to enter your house. Have this fixed at once for your families health. Good luck, Tom

My apologies--it is actually a p-trap that it is missing. We currently have the drain covered when not in use, but if we take it off, we tend to get a sewage smell emitting from it.

We have a crawlspace behind the shower, so I'm curious as to whether the trap needs to be directly under the shower, or if it can be extended to a more-accessible location.

Yoppy, can you see the drain under the shower from the crawl space? Still not trap? You may still have a trap but the water level has dropped to the point that gas can get inside. Pour a bucket of 1:3 fresh bleach and water into the drain, recover it and check it tomorrow for gas. The trap should be under the shower but we don't know who did the work. It might be found in your crawl.

I have tried the bleach to no avail. The previous owners mentioned that they didn't think a trap was initially installed.

Once you get a chance to inspect in the crawl let us know if you found any new info. If there is really no trap you have a previous homeowner engineered installation. A plumber would have installed a trap. If the drain extense into the crawl you can add a trap with a mechanical vent. It will not be as good as a trap directly beneath the shower but it will cure your gas issue. Are the pipes iron or pvc?

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Originally Posted by yoppy79

Our shower in our upstairs bathroom does not have an s-trap. Is there a more simple fix to this than tearing out the entire shower?

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Some older homes have the trap in the basement or a craw space