Leaking Shower Drain

Hi all,

My 2nd floor shower started leaking - or at least we just noticed the leak. When I cut the drywall under the shower, I found some issues with the drain pipe (see the attached). What I'd like to do is cut the existing drain line and replace the damaged area with PVC. Is this a reasonable approach?

Thanks again for all your advice.

Jeff

I would remove the drain from the shower and cut the copper pipe well back from the P-trap. I would then install one of these Davke 3000 no hub shower drains and a new PVC line and p-trap using Fernco Proflex Couplings...



There is a special Fernco Proflex just for making the connection to copper. the rubber on one side is extra thick to compensate for the thinner walled copper tubing. Make sure you use the right one.

Thanks for the info. I'll see if my local plumbing house has them.

They can be ordered from the Davke website if they don't.

drain

One problem you might have is that the plastic trap is going to hang a lot lower than your brass one, so it might not fit into the ceiling according to your pictures. And you cannot just "raise" it.

Update on the work

I was able to cut the bad section out. Actually, I only cut the horizontal run. The vertical was so rotted that I was able to use my hand and break it off. I cut off the remaining bad vertical section.

I was not able to remove the drain. It is screwed too tightly to the fiberglass enclosure above and there it very little room. It looks like I have to use the remaining good tailpiece (about 3 inches) and clamp and ABS p-trap into the line.

Thanks again for your help.