[alan]

In our two year old townhome basement, there is an area near the laundry that is set up to be finished into a bathroom. The sink will be easily tied into the existing plumbing. My question is about the shower. There is a square pad of concrete that has a rougher finish than the rest of the concrete. This concrete pad is located exactly where a shower should go. If I break through it will I be able to tap into drain pipes? Or is nothing under this concrete square? Why would the builders have put a square of different concrete if the drain pipes are not located under it? Thanks!

[speedball1]

Good morning Alan,

Sounds like the builder left you what's called a shower "dap-out".
A dap-out is a square hole about 2 or 3 inches deep that has a 2"trap and shower stub-up already roughed in. Sometimes it's left open but sometimes it's squared off and filled with dirt so the cement crew don't have to wory about pouring into it. A thin layer of cement seals it in. You should be able to break out the "overburden" and clear out the hole. Then the drain can be attached to the stub-up and the tile man can mud it in and tile to it. Some builders simply leave a shower stub-up coming out of the cement that you can fit a shower base on but it sounds like your builder planned on a tile shower. Hope I've explained everything to your satisfaction. Good luck, Tom