remodelingwalkinshower

I removed an older tiled walkin shower and plastic base pan to reveil the flooring beneath as concrete slab and a caste iron drain. The previous pan just dropped in pvc pipe into cast iron drain. And you can see where the water backed up around the drain. I would prefer to custom tile the base, but seeing as the drain pipe is 4" cast iron, what advise do you have for building a drain for a custom tile shower base?

You need a trap and a vent for it to meet code. A shower needs a 2" drain and trap. From there, you can run it into larger pipe. You'll need to crack out some concrete and see what you have - at least to the point where you can make the proper conversion. Check out www.johnbridge.com for help on tiling your shower so it will last.

yes, the iron pipe has ptrap at wall. What can i do to switch from the iron pipe to pvc so i can make a decent drain fitting for the shower base?

The proper place for the trap is directly under the drain. If you are using a shower base, it will usually come with a drain. You'd have to follow the directions for it. Got a brand and model? Post a picture?

no, i was planning on building a base with mortar, tile. How would i securely attach a pvc pipe/drain to the iron drain?

There are probably multiple ways that would work...one would be to dig down, snap the CI off, build back up using a coupling with PVC. Depending on how old the whole drain is, while you have access might very well be the time to change out the p-trap.