[josephm]

It seems I'm having a problem with my shower drain, it's probably leaking. When I carefully pour some water around the drain, a minute later the water has disappeared through the wrong side of the drain and a water spot starts to develop on the ceiling below the shower . I tried removing the compression nut with pliers and with a screwdriver but the thing won't budge.
1. How can I remove it?

My second question is: Even if I get the compression nut off, how will I fix it? The shower pan is a one piece (plastic, fiberglass?) and it's on the 2nd floor. There's no way to get to it from the bottom (townhouse).

Appreciate all the help.

DSCN5472.JPG

[speedball1]

I tried removing the compression nut with pliers and with a screwdriver but the thing won't budge.
1. How can I remove it?
My second question is: Even if I get the compression nut off, how will I fix it? The shower pan is a one piece (plastic, fiberglass?) and it's on the 2nd floor. There's no way to get to it from the bottom (townhouse).

I assume that "compression nut" refers to the large retaining nut on your drain. (see image) If it's anything else click back and tell me.
You have a ruptured drain seal. This happens when the shower floor isn't bedded down at installation.
To get at the nut you'll hafta open up the ceiling. Make a square cut and save it for a patch later. Loosen the nut and clean the old putty from under the drain lip. Replace the seal with Silicon Jel and tighten the nut back down.
See if you can brace up around the drain with 2 X 4's or some kind od shims. Replace the parch and rape and paint it.; good luck, tom

[josephm]

Sorry for not being clear enough about my situation. The problem is the right/nut on top, not the one at the bottom. I have found a picture from somewhere on the internet. It's the "locking ring" in the attached pic that I cannot seem to loosen. (I'll upload a picture from my shower when I get home from work).

Although I don't have that special metal tool to loosen it, I doubt that would work because I had tried my best with the screwdriver and pliers.

If I can get the locking ring off, is there a way I can take the drain body off from the top, seal it, and put everything back?

[speedball1]

What's the brand name on the drain? Back to you, Tom

[mygirlsdad77]

.

If I can get the locking ring off, is there a way I can take the drain body off from the top, seal it, and put everything back?

Nope, you will need to gain access from below. Open up the ceiling under shower(need to replace the water damaged area of ceiling anyways) then remove the complete drain body and start from scratch. If it was just the compression gasket seal that was leaking, I would say try to silicone it, but since the drain body is spinning, it will need to be removed, cleaned up and re-puttied.

[massplumber2008]

Hay all:

From what I see and read Joseph is trying to remove the shower strainer WITHOUT accessing the shower nut on the bottom.

Joseph, most likely that strainer can't be removed from the top... will need to cut a hole in the ceiling below.. in your neighbor's townhouse... right?

Here's what I would do (remember.. I'm an experienced plumber):

1) Tell your neighbor you will attempt to repair this without cutting a hole into the ceiling, but once you begin if all fails then you simply have no choice.

2) Attempt to remove the strainer from the top by drilling a couple 1/4" holes in the side of the strainer and then use some hooked pliers to grab the holes while pulling up on the strainer and unscrew counterclockwise. You will need to pull up while turning or this will never come loose.

3) If you get extremely kucky, you'll be able to remove the old strainer and then you'll want to purchase a wing-tite shower strainer (see image)... it can be installed from the top without access from underneath...;)

If you can't remove the strainer from the top then no choice and you'll need to remove it from the bottom... the strainer wrench you mentioned would still be a good tool to have here.

Anyway... that's my thoughts here...

Back to you..

Mark

PS: Use silicone caulking here...NOT PUTTY!

[josephm]

Hi all - Thanks so much for the help so far.

Indeed, I'm having problems getting that inside ring out of the drain. I tried getting it out but to no avail. Btw tom, you're probably right about a ruptured seal, I can move the entire shower drain a little from left to right so the thing is not tight enough.

I've attached a picture of my current situation. I'm not quite understanding what you're saying regarding drilling 1/4 inch holes. Do you mean I should drill little holes in the inside ring and try to get it out like that? It might be glued together since I really don't seem to be able to move it without the pipe/drain moving with it.

The Wingtite solution looks good, if only I could get this shower drain off. I believe I might have to dril 20+ holes in that ring and free the pipe like a sculpter would. Do you think that would work, or are there any other tricks to getting it off? (btw I would like to refrain from using a pipe cutter.

Back to you.

Thanks,

JM

[josephm]

Tom, I have the Oatey Casper ASTM PVC 2665 - ASTM ABS 2661

Oh. And I don't have a big dark water stain in the ceiling, you can't notice the spot unless you know where to look...

[massplumber2008]

Hi Joseph...

The two different pictures with the two different pipe types (PVC and ABS) threw me for a second there... ;)

Are you just trying to remove that inner ring at this point? If so take a hammer and a dull wood chisel and set the chisel into those grooves... hit the chisel in the counterclockwise direction with a hammer and that should loosen it. If not, you can always heat an old flathead screwdriver to cherry red using a torch and then carefully melt/cut that plastic ring. Do not drop that thing in the shower... O.K?

Afterward you'll need to pull the neoprene ring out... use some long screws screwed into the neoprene and pull up on the screws.. should remove it with a little persuasion.

To remove the strainer assembly itself you just have to get real creative and even then it may not come loose. It certainly takes time... the threads on those strainers are deep... I know I've done this before!

Finally, I'd go into the holes again, but got to thinkin' that I could be causing you to take chances that simply aren't worth the effort. The fact is that this job requires that the ceiling be opened up and repairs made! If you dare to exhaust all efforts let me know and I'll tell you how to get that strainer assembly out... but be warned that if you damage the shower unit and end up having to replace the entire shower unit... well, it's on you... NOT ME... ;)

I'm thinkin' its best to open the ceiling.

Mark

[josephm]

Thanks Mark. It seems there's 4 options.

1. Clean the shower drain real good, wait to dry and put silicone all around the drain. This would be a temporary fix.
2. Open up the ceiling and fix it properly
3. Somehow get the shower drain off without damaging anything and install the Wingtite
4. Open up the ceiling and install new shower, nice tiles, new floor, etc.

I have a preference for option 3, the wingtite solution.

[josephm]

Hi all, I'm procrastinating...

Still debating what to do. Does any of you have experience with the Wingtite solution? Is it going to be leak-free, since it only has an o-ring to connect to the drain pipe.

Thanks.

[jaracv]

Hi there,

I'm curious what you ended up doing to fix your leaking shower drain. I have a casper shower drain that is leaking and am wondering how things worked out for you. My email address is [email protected].

Thanks!

[Mimi11440]

Ok, this won't be everyone's solution, but it worked for us. We have a one piece fiberglass shower. It is mounted on a concrete floor with the drain going into the floor. So, getting to the drain from below was completely out of the question.

The wallboard, on the side of the shower head, was removed to get at an earlier leak. So, I thought, "Hey, go in the side and access it that way."

That was a no go also. It was just too far over for our arms/tools to reach the drain and nut to be of any use.

Next on my list to do in the bathroom is to tile. So, here was my solution:

I went on the outside of the stall, directly across from the drain, and on the bottom of the stall I drilled a hole to get a saw in there. I cut a rectangle hole (about the size of a large hand) in order to reach in there and screw the nut on.

It worked perfectly and was easy to get on. So, I'm just left with a hole.

My solution to that is to use wood to frame the lip of the stall out just a little. (You could make a step here or whatever.) I left the wood just below the level of the stall so that when I put the concrete backer board on and tiled it, then it would be level with the shower stall. I did the same with the front of it. You could use the same tile as the floor or an accent tile. Nice and pretty fix.

Hope this helps anyone in a situation like this!

[speedball1]

Hi Mmi11440 and Welcome to The Plumbing Page at AMHD.com. You're responding to 3 year old dead threads Please check the date before you post. Thanks
A novel solution. We thank you for sharing. If you will care to come up with more solutions we would love to have you on the team. Thanks again for your input. Regards, Tom

[Mimi11440]

Hi Tom,

The thing is when I did a Google search for help solving this problem-this thread was one of the first links on the first page.

I searched for another 30 minutes, but no one had a solution to work for this particular problem. Therefore, I had to be creative and find my own solution.

In order to save others the problem I had with finding an actual solution, I figured I would post what we did to address this.

The last post on this thread was also only four months ago with someone else asking what they could do and if this problem was solved by anyone else and no one answered him, including the original poster.

It may be three years old, but it is still relevant today with others who have this particular problem (of getting to the drain nut when it is inaccessible any other way). This particular post has over 6000 views, which is why I chose to take the time to give my solution.

Thanks for the welcome,
Mimi