Showers - Shower Drain Installation

  In many older homes you quite likely to find only a simple bathtub installation with no consideration for a shower or the installed shower is simply way out of date. Don't let this be too alarming if you are a handyman and like to perform some of your own upgrades. One of the initial considerations that could be a bit bothersome to you could be the drain installation. This part of the project won't come in a box and you need to work it out for your own particular circumstances.

A great starting point is to visit your nearest Lowes Home Improvement or Home depot. They have very knowledgeable staff and constantly put on seminars related to a wide variety of topics. Decide on the installation you would like and determine your layout.

At the base - all installations will require a water collector-usually a solid ,water tight basin with three or four inch walls around it.

You could construct your own but in the end it may not be as efficient or economical is the many pre-made products available. if possible select one with a drain located in the same place as your existing drain. Of course this won't always work out in a more complex makeover.

Relocating the drain can be a challenge, especially in older installations where code was a non-existing term. You may find that you need to cut back the pipe or lengthen it. that could require opening large areas of the floor. If you find this necessary, you are going to be looking at a multiple weekend project.

Once the drain location is in place, the actual hook up is fairly simple. The drainage pipe should be pointing inline to the collector. It should have a "gooseneck" installed to prevent backup of sewer gasses. Being a handyman I'm sure you know that this is just a U shaped section that always holds a little water and won't allow free air flow past that point. Create a water tight connection between the drain cap (the piece of hardware that is installed in the hole of your base) in the base pan and the drainage pipe.  You will need a coupling that is appropriate for the two sections to be joined.

It might require a small amount of moving parts to get your drain cap to fit into a watertight position in the pan but yet line up for the connection. Back off the drain cap lock nut once you are sure everything fits together and put plumbers putty around the underside of the cap. tighten the lock nut again. The putty should form a tight seal between the cap and the shower pan, which keeps water from leaking past it and into the framing under the shower. That's the difficult portion. up to this point you have been required to "wing ti" and use your own engineering. The actual out of the box tub and or shower installation should be laid out for you clearly from the manufacturer now.

A note I might add - for the water supply plumbing. If you haven't tried the new flex type water supply products, you really should. They are extremely easy to install with absolutely no leak problems. Just follow the simple installation directions. You never need to light up a dangerous torch again with these products!