After cleaning the rim of the drain body and bottom of shower pan for the new rubber gasket, I removed the old plumber’s putty from the threads of the drain body with a brass wire brush. I could have stuffed an old rag in the drain pipe to catch any bits, but there wasn’t enough to worry about.

Cleaning the Drain Threads

Gasket Installation

The drain is now cleaned up and ready for reassembly with new parts. In the next photos, I’ve moved the drain to one side so you can see the flat rim of the drain body. The gasket sits on the flat rim to seal against the bottom of the shower pan.

Drain is Clean and Ready for the Gaskets

The new friction- and rubber gaskets are placed between the drain body and bottom of the shower pan. The friction gasket goes on the bottom, below the rubber gasket.

Installing the New Rubber Gaskets

I used the clear plastic anti-friction gasket from the Sioux Chief shower drain kit because it was better quality than the cardboard gasket from the offset drain that I found at the independent hardware store. The friction gasket goes on the bottom, below the black rubber gasket. The purpose of the anti-friction gasket is to prevent torquing up the PVC plumbing pipe as the strainer body is screwed in tight. You can omit the friction gasket if you’re able to hold the drain body to counter the torque as the strainer body is tightened.

New Shower Drain Gaskets

Plumber’s Putty

Plumber’s Putty is a caulking and sealing compound that is the consistency of stiff Play-Doh. It supposed to be non-shrinking and non-hardening and widely available at any hardware store.

A Better Idea:  Sta Put® Ultra™

A reader asked me (see the comments section below): “The plumbers putty like the one in your picture says not to use on plastics (strainer is plastic). What do you use in these situations?

” – Fred.

Plumber’s Putty contains vegetable and fish oils. While it’s possible the oils could attack some plastics, the main concerns appears to be it could cause staining. While I’ve never seen a problem with PVC plastic like this shower drain, the best advice is to follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Oatey, Inc. recommends Sta Put Ultra, an oil free non-staining plumber’s putty that safe for use on porous surface such as plastics, fiberglass, stone, granite, grout, etc. You can buy Sta Put Ultra at PlumbingSupply.com for about $7.50 – only a $1 more than regular Plumber’s Putty.

Strainer Body and Plumbers Putty

Pinch off a glob of plumber’s putty and knead it into the threads and under the rim of the shower strainer body.

Glob of Plumbers Putty

The shower strainer is coated with plumber’s putty, ready to be screwed into the shower drain. You want to have excess plumbers putty to get a good “squeeze out” when the strainer body is screwed in for a watertight seal.

Some manufacturer’s instructions say to apply a bead of silicone caulk along the bottom rim of the strainer body. The problem is silicone caulk will cure and create a glue-like bond, making it very difficult to remove the drain in the future. Plumber’s putty shouldn’t stiffen or dry out – hopefully the newer stuff won’t.

Plumbers Putty applied to the Shower Strainer Body

Final Assembly

Take care to align the strainer body in the shower drain, then screw in turning clockwise.

Installing the Strainer Body into the Shower Drain

Screw the strainer body into the drain. Use your thumbs to apply more torque as the drain gets seated. You need to compress the black rubber gasket and squeeze out the excess plumber’s putty. I added a 1/4 turn extra after it was firmly seated in the molded recess of the shower pan.

Screwing in the Shower Strainer Body

A good squeeze-out of plumber’s putty around the rim – this ensures a watertight seal for the black rubber gasket between the drain body and shower pan.

Plumbers Putty Squeeze Out

The excess plumber’s putty is trimmed away. The drain is now watertight.

Assembled Shower Drain

The strainer is reattached with two screws.

Attach the Strainer

Verify the Drain is Watertight

I left the aluminum pan in place to catch any drips and confirm the new drain is leak free. It’s been over a week since the repair and the drain is watertight. Next I’ll paint the basement ceiling to cover the water stain.

Repair the Basement Ceiling Drywall Damage

I explain how to repair the water damage to the basement ceiling in this project: How to Repair Drywall Ceiling Water Damage – Part 1

Hope this helps,

Bob Jackson

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Replacement Drain Body

I bought a Sioux Chief brand 2″ PVC shower drain from Home Depot. You have to buy the whole drain module just to get new gaskets and strainer body, but it only costs about $7.

When I got home and tried to screw in the new drain body, it didn’t fit! The threads on the Sioux Chief were much finer and square shaped compared to the much courser and Vee shaped threads on my shower drain. Next I went to Lowes and checked the Oatley brand of shower drains. The Oatley drain threads were different (same type as Sioux Chief) and didn’t fit my drain.

I was getting desperate because replacing the entire drain would be very difficult due to the suspended drywall ceiling in the finished basement and I couldn’t get access to plumbing in that area. So I kept searching for a new drain with matching threads.

Pulling up Google Maps on my iPhone, I searched for Hardware Stores near my current location, hoping for an alternative to the “Big Box” stores that didn’t have a matching drain. I located an old style hardware store in an different section of town that I rarely frequent. The sign just said “Hardware Store”. Going inside the store, my reaction was “Wow!” They have all kinds of items that you can’t find in the big box retailers! Lot’s of unique brands and stuff I hadn’t seen since I was a kid!

Old Fashion Hardware Store

I had almost given up while rummaging around in the plumbing section, when I dug out an offset drain from underneath a pile of stuff. I had the old strainer body with me and the threads matched perfectly! I was very pleased, the repair would be simple now!

Replacement Shower Drains

Update:

Reader ‘Gretschdrum’ identified the original drain as a PFG600 made by Plastic Oddities. See details in the Comments section at the end of Part 4 of this series.

Thanks Gretschrum!

Here are the parts of a shower drain and the difference in the course and fine threads. I used the strainer body on the left with course threads and the new gaskets.

Shower Drains - Course and Fine Threads

The old and new matching shower strainer bodies:

Old and New Shower Strainer Bodies with Course Threads

This repair is concluded in Part 4.

Take care,

Bob Jackson

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Disassemble the Shower Drain

Working in the shower stall, remove the two screws that hold the strainer in place. Be careful not to drop the screws into the drain – not that this every happened to me!

Removing the Shower Drain Strainer

The shower drain strainer and two screws:

Shower Drain Strainer

The house is a bit over 9 years old and I couldn’t unscrew the strainer body by using just my thumbs. A set of channel locks is used to get better leverage and break the strainer body free. The strainer body unscrews counter-clockwise, remember: lefty-loosey, righty-tighty. It didn’t take much force with the channel locks.

Unscrewing the Shower Strainer Body

I saw several problems when I removed the shower strainer body:

1. The plumbers putty was brittle and chalky from age.
2. Water was seeping between the strainer body and drain body.
3. Lots of crud had built up around the rubber gasket that seals the drain to the shower pan.
4. Water was leaking around rubber gasket.

Strainer Body Removed from Shower Drain

The plumbers putty is brittle and flaked off in chunks.

Brittle Plumbers Putty

I pushed the shower drain body to the side with finger pressure to better see the condition of the rubber gasket. (Note to self: Don’t chew on fingernails.)

Leakage and Crud Buildup at the Gasket

I pulled out the old rubber gasket. It was wet and the cardboard friction gasket had mostly rotted away.

I moved the drain body from side-to-side to clean the crud from the bottom of the shower pan and the rim of the drain body. This area has to be clean if the new rubber gasket to be water tight.

Rubber Gasket Removed and Cleaning the Drain Lip

Cracked Strainer Body

I cleaned the strainer body thinking all I needed was a new rubber gasket and plumber’s putty to repair the shower drain. It wasn’t possible because shower strainer body is cracked in two places along the rim. Note the V-shaped cracks at the 12 o’clock position:

Cracked Strainer Body

Cracked rim of the strainer body:

Cracked Rim of the Strainer Body

Cause of the Shower Drain Leak

I believe the shower drain leaked when the plumber’s putty became brittle from aging, shrank and relaxed the pressure that sealed the rubber gasket. The plumber’s putty cracked away and the unsupported rim of the drain body split over time from stepping on the drain.

This repair is continued in Part 3.

Take care,

Bob Jackson

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Water Stain on Ceiling

Time to get the ladder and flashlight to find the source of the water leak.

Finding the Leak

Working on a ladder with a flashlight, I quickly traced water leak to the shower drain plumbing below the master bath. Water is dripping from the U-bend below the shower onto the basement ceiling. I placed an aluminum pan on the under the U bend to catch the drips. This is the view of the crawl space between the basement ceiling and main floor of the house. Note: You cannot walk on the suspended drywall ceiling! It won’t support you and you will fall through!

Water Leak from the Shower Drain Plumbing

Aside: Also see this related article for cutting an access panel in the drywall to diagnose and fix a leaking shower arm on the fresh water supply side.

I worked my way around the crawlspace to get a better view of the shower drain. Water stains are evident around the drain body, plywood subfloor and floor joist.

Shower Drain Plumbing

Here’s a closer look at the leak source around the shower drain body. The water leak is between the drain body and bottom of the shower pan.

Closeup of Shower Drain Body and Water Stains

A dusty-white evaporation trail from the shower leak is visible on the floor joist to the left.

Whitish Water Stains on the Floor Joist

Now that I’ve identified the source of the water leak, how do I fix it?!

Understanding a Shower Drain

Shower drains are made somewhat differently depending on the construction of the shower pan, either a preformed pan or a pan that is built on-site with a vinyl liner over a mortar bed. The Sioux Chief Mfg Co. has a nice range of screw on, snap-in, no-caulk, modular, etc shower drains. For an overview of a shower drain for a tiled shower pan with a vinyl liner, click here.

I have a preformed fiberglass shower stall in the master bath that has a modular screw-in solvent-weld shower drain like this model by Sioux Chief.

Here the drain strainer body is removed to better show how it fits into the drain body:

Solvent Weld Shower Drain

This next diagram shows how the shower drain is assembled and fits against the shower pan. My shower is leaking between the shower pan and rubber gasket. Click on the image for a larger view.

Shower Drain Installation Diagram

My drain is a “solvent weld” model, meaning the drain body is glued to the PVC pipe with PVC primer and glue.

Bottom of Shower Drain and 2-inch PVC Pipe

This repair is continued in Part 2.

Regards,

Bob Jackson

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