JJ wrote:

Greetings to all:

I have an Aquaglass shower stall, and recently it leaked. The drain was
accessible after cutting a liberal hole in the ceiling below. The nut on the
back of the drain had backed off enough to start the leak. Shower is only
about 4 years old, so I don't know if it really backed off, or was never
tightened properly to begin with. It had only backed off a hair. My guess is
it had very slowly leaked for months. Anyway, I put some new putty on the
shower side and tighten the nut up from below. Not leaking at the moment.

The setup on the drain seems pretty common. Everything is PVC, the drain
hooks to a ~12" straight piece, then goes into a trap from there. I do not
like the fact that I have to bust out drywall to get to the drain to tighten
it. So:

1: Would it be better, since I already have the drywall opened, to install a
type of drain that tightens from the shower side? Similar to this one:
http://www.oatey.com/apps/catalog/sh...&prodgrpid=117

2. If I do this, the only way that I see to do this is:
a. Remove drain nut
b. Cut the straight piece of PVC, remove drain and attached straight
piece
c. Cut new piece of straight pipe to fit. Place drain bottom on new
piece of straight pipe, not glued yet.
d. Glue straight pipe with coupler to the remaining straight piece still
in the ceiling. Let set.
e. Coat top of pipe with glue, slide drain bottom up the pipe, twist
around to spread glue. Support until set.
f. Screw top piece of drain in through the top.

Does replacing this drain make sense? or is it even possible without pulling
the shower up?

Thanks,

John

That one may be a good choice.

If your shower base flexes (due to person's weight),
I would add a rubber "Mission" coupling between the
drain and the trap; the coupling will absorb some flex.

There is also the Oatey:
http://www.oatey.com/apps/catalog/sh...&prodgrpid=118

This one doesn't screw in from above, but the seal to the pipe is
accomplished with a special rubber sleeve which is accessed from above.

Jim