I see grout on the side when I look into my shower drain

4 years ago

I have a tiled shower located on the 2nd level of my home. It started leaking through the ceiling below. Looks like the leak is coming from between the tile & sub floor. I did the test plug on the drain & filled the shower area with water & no leaks happened. I snaked through the pipe & got a lot of hairs, paper looking stuff & other yucky stuff. I clear the clog & I thought it was leaking due to the clog. I used the shower & it started leaking again. It used to be a phantom leak, but now, I'm quite sure it's coming from the drain. I see what appears to be grout on the side when I look into the drain. I don't know how the grout got exposed though. It appears there's a grout around between the strainer body & the drain body (except that I'm not sure if there is a drain body because I see black pvc after the strainer body. Any idea why I see grout? Any advise on how to fix this? Can I just cover it up with a plumbers putty or silicon to avoid expensive repairs?

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Comments (5)

PRO
Creative Tile Eastern CT
4 years ago
Black pipe is ABS, white drain is PVC. They do not bond together to my knowledge. Research.
Paul Abrilla thanked Creative Tile Eastern CT
Tile Corrector
4 years ago
To test properly you must insert An "inflateable" test plug deeper DOWN below the drain flange into the 2" pipe a good 4 inches closer to the trap bend @40 psi.. Then you will have tested the drain to liner connection and the abs glue up.. Its not impossible you have a plumbing supply line leak either.or a liner leak up higher .

The top threaded white part is A Drain Strainer and it is not an issue as long as the ABS 2" is glued to An ABS drain "riser" the strainer just threads in and is not part of the connection.
Paul Abrilla thanked Tile Corrector
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Paul Abrilla
Original Author
4 years ago
I know for sure that the leak only happens when someone's taking a shower. I don't think it's a supply line leak because when I removed the test plug & the water starts going down, that's when the leak starts. Also, the water is definitely coming from between the tile & subfloor because a plumber though it was the heater next to shower was the culprit when he cut an approx. 1.5 square feet on the ceiling below. Unfortunately, I don't have an inflateable test plug. In any case, if the problem is drain to liner connection or the abs glue up, is this an easy fix? Can there be a temporary fix. Can it be fixed from the top without opening the ceiling directly below the shower. Is this an expensive fix?
Paul Abrilla
Original Author
4 years ago
Also, is it normal to see grout between the PVC (Drain Strainer) & the ABS (Black Pipe)? From looking at several picture on the internet on how drain is set up on a tiled floor, I don't see or I cannot picture how a grout would end up there? It would be nice, if I can picture how the PVC drain strainer is supposed to be connected to an ABS drain pipe. I searched the internet , but I couldn't find one. All I see are PVCs:
millworkman
4 years ago
" In any case, if the problem is drain to liner connection or the abs glue up, is this an easy fix?"

Not really, this will call for a complete demo of the shower pan. And this just leads to more demo and replacing as you cannot effectively replace a shower pan and tie in to existing tiled walls while maintaining waterproofing. You are looking and a compete gut. Depending on your level of skil and cost of living area, 10K plus if you hire out.

I see grout on the side when I look into my shower drain

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I see grout on the side when I look into my shower drain

Comments (5)

Creative Tile Eastern CT

Tile Corrector

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millworkman

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