How To Repair A Shower Tub Drain

Ane of the worst feelings you tin can get as a homeowner is when you see a watermark on the ceiling beneath a bathroom.

The next thought that crosses my heed is how much this fiddling water issue will cost.

This exact trouble has happened to me numerous times at my own firm equally well as at my rentals.

The latest upshot I encountered dealt with a bathtub leak into my rental's dining room.

Fortunately the dining room has a dropped ceiling (classy, right!) and the panels aren't hard to replace.

But I wanted to solve this leak problem ASAP and this tutorial deals with that procedure.

Here are the supplies you need

Screwdriver
Plumber'southward Putty or
100% Silicone Caulk
Tub Drain Removal Tool
Tub Drain Extractor Tool for 1.five″ Drains or
Drain Key for Unlocking or Installing Drains
Channellock Pliers
These Amazon links help support Home Repair Tutor, many thanks for using them

How to Audit for Leaks

The first action I took was to remove the admission panel to the bathtub waste and overflow pipes.

Then I checked for leaks. Possible leak locations are

The showerhead and shower arm connection
Shower arm and shower pipe connexion
Leaks getting behind the shower escutcheon plate that covers the shower faucet handle
The faucet trunk behind the faucet handle
Shutoff valves (if you have whatever to the shower or bathtub)
Bathtub overflow gaskets or washers (usually attainable in the admission panel)
Overflow pipe & cover plate, drain T, bleed tailpiece, waster bleed tube connections
Drain flange, gasket, and shoe tube in the bathtub
P-Trap and branch drain connections
Hot & Cold supply line h2o connections

By the way, if you want to install shutoff valves it'south actually easy to practise with SharkBites.

I ran the water and determined the leak wasn't coming from any of the shower faucet connections or from h2o splashing backside the escutcheon plate.

Also, in that location were no leaks from the cold and hot water lines.

The next step was to fill upwardly the bathtub merely below the overflow cover plate.

Since my tenant takes baths and said the leak is slow I decided to see what would happen once the tub was full of water.

Remarkably no leak occurred when the tub was filled.

Simply when the water drained that's when a dull trickle formed from underneath the shoe tube connectedness.

This leak was coming from the bleed flange/gasket/shoe tube connection.

How to Get to the Drain Leak

I removed the strainer screen and looked at the drain flange.

Use a screwdriver to remove the bathtub strainer screen and bleed cover plate.

Then remove the drain using a special wrench that attaches to the drain arms.

Y'all can likewise apply a pair of aqueduct locks to remove the drain flange by inserting the handles down into the strainer handbasket.

But I prefer the strainer wrench considering it's sturdier.

Once the strainer wrench is down in the bleed yous can use either a screwdriver (inserted through the wrench holes) or channel locks to loosen the drain flange.

Only turn the drain wrench counterclockwise.

What if your strainer arms are broken?

If that'southward the example using either a tub drain extractor tool for 1.5″ drains or a drain key tool. We got a lot of questions almost this problem down in the comments. So these tools are the solution.

Once the bleed flange/strainer handbasket was removed, I turned it over to notice the plumber's putty was missing in one section.

How to Prepare a Bathtub Drain Leak

Fortunately, I ever accept plumber's putty in my toolbox (information technology's amazing how often you need this stuff!).

You can get this product at whatsoever hardware store or on Amazon.

Sorry for the bright picture beneath.

The bodily leak was occurring in between the gasket that sits on height of the bathtub shoe tube and the bathtub drain hole.

The gasket tin can exist seen in the motion picture below as a blackness ring.

And the bathtub shoe tube is the threaded department direct below the blackness gasket.

Bathtub Shoe tube & Bathtub Shoe Tube Gasket

The leak occurred because the bathtub tin can flex when someone is standing on information technology or when excessive h2o weight exerts downwardly pressure level repeatedly over time.

So the gasket seal tin fail practice to normal expansion and contraction forces.

I placed a generous dewdrop of plumbers putty on the drain flange such that the putty sealed the unabridged black gasket.

The next step I took was to clean off the sometime plumber's putty on the bathtub itself as well as any left within the bathtub shoe tube.

Now that everything was clean I inserted the drain flange back into the threaded bathtub shoe tube and tightened it with the drain wrench.

When you do this the plumber'due south putty with be squeezed effectually the bathtub shoe tube gasket and create a flexible water-tight seal.

I made sure to clean off the plumber'south putty that oozed out from the drain flange.

Plumbers putty oozing from bathtub drain flange

At this indicate, I put the bathtub strainer screen back onto the drain flange and filled the bathtub until the h2o level reached the bottom of the overflow comprehend plate.

No leak!!

I then let all the water drain to see if the downward pressure would cause the leak and again I didn't see any water coming from underneath the bathtub shoe tube.

The sugariness scent of success or in this instance plumber's putty.

What's Side by side

If you lot're doing a bathroom remodel and need assistance, join 1 of our online courses – they'll make your bathroom renovation much easier!

Let me know if yous accept any questions and I'll practice my best to aid.

Thanks as ever for reading, watching, and being part of our awesome community.

Cheers,

Jeff

Bathtub Drain Repair