Troodon
Member
We recently got our tub drain going again, through a nasty sequence of snaking and plunging, which produced a dense, rat-sized hairball and black sludge galore. But finally we have a drain that works like a dream. The overflow plate, which I removed for the auger, had a very corroded gasket underneath it. And over the juncture between the overflow drain pipe and the back of the tub there was this hard (like rock almost) substance that came off in chunks. I removed both. Now I'm re-attaching the overflow plate. I think I'm doing OK with it, but I wanted to ask, since I don't see any posts about plates of the type we have. I couldn't find any google images of it, either.
Description of our tub overflow: The drain pipe behind the overflow has a threaded bolt that emerges from the inside of the pipe's first bend, and this bolt sticks out through the center of the circle of the overflow cutout in the tub. The rosette-style plate (looks more like a large drain cover than your typical solid plate) has a hole in the center, which fits over this bolt. There's a closed-end nut that fits over the few threads that remain sticking out of the center of the plate. Tightening this nut pulls the plate against the tub, and pulls the overflow drain pipe forward, against the back of the tub.
What I did: I put polyseamseal around the tiny gap (1/16 of an inch max, maybe) between the end of the overflow drain pipe and the back of the tub, pulled on the bolt while smoothing the polyseamseal with my finger, put the overflow plate on, and tightened the nut so that the polyseam seal dried while the pipe-tub juncture at the overflow was closed. There wasn't enough of a gap to fit any gasket between the overflow drain pipe and the overflow hole on the tub. At least, none of the gaskets I saw had any hope of fitting in that small gap. Now I plan on using some plumber's putty on the back of the overflow plate (the part that overlaps slightly with the outer rim of the overflow opening on the front of the tub) and re-affixing it.
I obviously don't want water to drip down back there, especially given that I have two little kids who like to play in the tub. The rosette design of the overflow cover comes from cut-outs in the metal, so there's lots of opportunity for water to get splashed into that opening. It's not like the newer covers, which are solid circles of metal with an opening underneath. If pictures are needed I can take some. Anyway, anything wrong with what I'm doing with it?
Oh, and thanks for this wonderful forum -- it really is a model of civil, intelligent, to-the-point discussion!
Description of our tub overflow: The drain pipe behind the overflow has a threaded bolt that emerges from the inside of the pipe's first bend, and this bolt sticks out through the center of the circle of the overflow cutout in the tub. The rosette-style plate (looks more like a large drain cover than your typical solid plate) has a hole in the center, which fits over this bolt. There's a closed-end nut that fits over the few threads that remain sticking out of the center of the plate. Tightening this nut pulls the plate against the tub, and pulls the overflow drain pipe forward, against the back of the tub.
What I did: I put polyseamseal around the tiny gap (1/16 of an inch max, maybe) between the end of the overflow drain pipe and the back of the tub, pulled on the bolt while smoothing the polyseamseal with my finger, put the overflow plate on, and tightened the nut so that the polyseam seal dried while the pipe-tub juncture at the overflow was closed. There wasn't enough of a gap to fit any gasket between the overflow drain pipe and the overflow hole on the tub. At least, none of the gaskets I saw had any hope of fitting in that small gap. Now I plan on using some plumber's putty on the back of the overflow plate (the part that overlaps slightly with the outer rim of the overflow opening on the front of the tub) and re-affixing it.
I obviously don't want water to drip down back there, especially given that I have two little kids who like to play in the tub. The rosette design of the overflow cover comes from cut-outs in the metal, so there's lots of opportunity for water to get splashed into that opening. It's not like the newer covers, which are solid circles of metal with an opening underneath. If pictures are needed I can take some. Anyway, anything wrong with what I'm doing with it?
Oh, and thanks for this wonderful forum -- it really is a model of civil, intelligent, to-the-point discussion!
