lukkiirish, so far, there's no sign of mold (sight or smell). I'm guessing the water leaks were long ago, and then the floor just gave in, so it's probably not wet now. kudzu9, one contractor said he would pull everything out, rebuild the shower in concrete and tile (it's just one of those ready-made things at present), for $6k. My KD looked at it, measured it, but has turned a blind eye to it every since, so he probably doesn't want to go near it. DD has the camera at university, but I want my own to photograph my almost finished kitchen, so maybe I'll just spring for a little one soon :) Thanks again for all the advice.

The horizontal section of pipe after the sanitary tee for the shower drain is one of the most common places to have a drain clog. The other place is the same section of pipe after the washing machine standpipe. Why are these such common places to have a blockage? Because these have a 2" P-trap. The P trap is like the clog factory. That is where the clogs start out. When the clog gets dislodged from the P-trap, it flows down the trap arm and past the sanitary tee. When you plunge a clogged drain, you are forcing the clog down to the sanitary tee. Once it passes the sanitary tee, the plunger is ineffective, because the vent breaks the vacuum created by the plunger. If the P-trap and trap arm are 1 1/2" pipes, and the sanitary tee steps up to a 2" pipe, the 1 1/2"clog can flow freely through the 2" pipe. But if the clog comes from a 2" P-trap, it will most likely get stuck further down the line in the next horizontal section of 2" pipe. Once a clog gets past the sanitary tee, plunging is futile. You must snake out the clogged section of pipe. So the reason to start with the shower drain is because the clog is most likely in the 2" pipe, not a larger one.

There is normaly an opening through the slab called "leave out" beneath tubs that will allow routeing the drain as will be needed. If there is no leave out when you remove the tub,just raise the floor of shower above slab enough for drain to go underneath. Retro-fit all in one showers normaly sit high enough to use a "shoe"drain to address this. You didn't ask but before you get too far along, I reccomend measureing your doors and halls to make certain you can get the shower into the bath room.

Hi Everyone! Looking for some advice. Since moving into our home two years ago, we have been cursed with water issues in our basement. We have a poured concrete basement with two rows of concrete block at the top. We experienced leaking where the poured concrete and block wall meet. We waterproofed that entire area. Six months later, we experienced water coming up through the floor which told us we needed a new drain tile. This is getting installed in July. My husband is anxious to finish our basement once the drain tile is installed because he is convinced this should (hopefully) solve any unrelated water issues. I am more hesitant. How long should we want to finish our basement?