slow draining shower
 

Moved in to new house. The shower drains very slowly. This is a tiled
shower stall, not a tub.
I tried using liquid plumber; no luck.
I can do a fair number of home repair projects, but have done very
little with plumbing and drains. Do I want to try to rent a snake and
mess with this myself? Or just call a plumber?
If I do it myself, tips hints and instructions would be appreciated.

slow draining shower
 

"alath" wrote in message
oups.com...
Moved in to new house. The shower drains very slowly. This is a tiled
shower stall, not a tub.
I tried using liquid plumber; no luck.
I can do a fair number of home repair projects, but have done very
little with plumbing and drains. Do I want to try to rent a snake and
mess with this myself? Or just call a plumber?
If I do it myself, tips hints and instructions would be appreciated.


Most likely hair build up in drain. Before you tackle it make sure that
caustic drain cleaner you used is well rinsed out! If it is hair it is
probably in the first elbow or trap.

If not a clog in the drain then you might be looking at a poor vent or
blocked vent.

slow draining shower
 

"alath" wrote in message
oups.com...
Moved in to new house. The shower drains very slowly. This is a tiled
shower stall, not a tub.
I tried using liquid plumber; no luck.
I can do a fair number of home repair projects, but have done very
little with plumbing and drains. Do I want to try to rent a snake and
mess with this myself? Or just call a plumber?
If I do it myself, tips hints and instructions would be appreciated.

Consider this just an expense for your new home and call a plumber. You just
moved in, don't make your first memories those of you fighting with the
shower drain!

slow draining shower
 

On Jun 4, 9:59 pm, alath wrote:
Moved in to new house. The shower drains very slowly. This is a tiled
shower stall, not a tub.
I tried using liquid plumber; no luck.
I can do a fair number of home repair projects, but have done very
little with plumbing and drains. Do I want to try to rent a snake and
mess with this myself? Or just call a plumber?
If I do it myself, tips hints and instructions would be appreciated.

All good advice. First you look at the trap. It is an S-shaped pipe
underneath every sink or drain in my house and probably yours. Could
be in the basement or crawl space maybe in a wall. It should be
hand-tight and easily dissasembled. Be ready with bucket to catch the
sludge. There should be hair and stuff in the trap. Clean it out and
use gloves if you wish cause it's nasty. Or use a coat hanger like
that guy said to hook the hair and drag it out. If that don't work
then get back to us.

slow draining shower
 

Just take a metal coat hanger, straighten it out, and bend about a half
inch to about 60 degrees. Then take the cover off the drain and stick the
coat hanger down their and pull up all the hair.

"alath" wrote in message
oups.com...
Moved in to new house. The shower drains very slowly. This is a tiled
shower stall, not a tub.
I tried using liquid plumber; no luck.
I can do a fair number of home repair projects, but have done very
little with plumbing and drains. Do I want to try to rent a snake and
mess with this myself? Or just call a plumber?
If I do it myself, tips hints and instructions would be appreciated.

slow draining shower
 

First you look at the trap. It is an S-shaped pipe
underneath every sink or drain in my house and probably yours. Could
be in the basement or crawl space maybe in a wall.

I was wondering about the trap. This home is built on a concrete slab
floor. I don't think I am going to be able to get at the trap to take
it apart.

slow draining shower
 

alath wrote:
Moved in to new house.

If the house is new, and not just new to you, then contact the builder,
it is his problem not yours.

The shower drains very slowly. This is a tiled
shower stall, not a tub.
I tried using liquid plumber; no luck.

Yea, it would have been luck if it worked. All those things are luck if
the work, or seem to work. It is far better to really fix a problem than
use them. (see below)

I can do a fair number of home repair projects, but have done very
little with plumbing and drains. Do I want to try to rent a snake and
mess with this myself? Or just call a plumber?

Well you need to decide what YOU want to do. I would buy a small snake
if I did not already have one and clean it out myself. You might want to
call a plumber. Chances are a simple snaking will take care of it. Note:
remember that you used those chemicals and they are still there. They will
make your job more difficult and dangerous. I would want to get that stuff
out of there and well flushed before I used the snake. I don't even have
any of that stuff in my home.

If not then call the plumber. Do please tell them about the Liquid
Plumber you used, as it can be a danger to them when they are working on it.
Also note it can be a danger for you as well.

If I do it myself, tips hints and instructions would be appreciated.

Get a DIY book at the hardware store. It will cover with photos the
basic procedure. The book will be handy to have around in the future.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

slow draining shower
 

In article .com,
alath wrote:

First you look at the trap. It is an S-shaped pipe
underneath every sink or drain in my house and probably yours. Could
be in the basement or crawl space maybe in a wall.

I was wondering about the trap. This home is built on a concrete slab
floor. I don't think I am going to be able to get at the trap to take
it apart.

If it's hair in the trap, a gallon of standard laundry bleach poured
down the drain before you go to bed for the night will dissolve it.
Don't use any water in that bathroom for at least eight hours, including
the toilet and sink. If that doesn't clear it out then if it were me I'd
call a plumber. I've found cheap snakes to be useless, and good ones are
expensive and take finesse to use properly. Sure the theory of operation
is uncomplicated, but it takes experience to do a decent job.

This is all based on my own experience of 25 years with a pesky bathtub
drain, I must've tried snaking it myself at least fifty times, which
sometimes improved it for a few months but the slow draining kept coming
back. Over the years I had four or five different plumbers over to snake
it, and that usually lasted about six months. Finally I found a guy who
knew what he was doing and haven't had a single problem since he was
here five years ago.

Incidentally, my house is also on a slab and I even cut a hole in the
kitchen cupboard down by the floor to try to gain trap access and
although I could see the trap there wasn't any room to get in there and
take it apart.

slow draining shower
 

Smitty Two wrote:
In article .com,
alath wrote:

First you look at the trap. It is an S-shaped pipe
underneath every sink or drain in my house and probably yours. Could
be in the basement or crawl space maybe in a wall.
I was wondering about the trap. This home is built on a concrete slab
floor. I don't think I am going to be able to get at the trap to take
it apart.

If it's hair in the trap, a gallon of standard laundry bleach poured
down the drain before you go to bed for the night will dissolve it.

I did not know that bleach alone would dissolve hair. Is this true??

Don't use any water in that bathroom for at least eight hours, including
the toilet and sink. If that doesn't clear it out then if it were me I'd
call a plumber. I've found cheap snakes to be useless, and good ones are
expensive and take finesse to use properly. Sure the theory of operation
is uncomplicated, but it takes experience to do a decent job.

This is all based on my own experience of 25 years with a pesky bathtub
drain, I must've tried snaking it myself at least fifty times, which
sometimes improved it for a few months but the slow draining kept coming
back. Over the years I had four or five different plumbers over to snake
it, and that usually lasted about six months. Finally I found a guy who
knew what he was doing and haven't had a single problem since he was
here five years ago.

Incidentally, my house is also on a slab and I even cut a hole in the
kitchen cupboard down by the floor to try to gain trap access and
although I could see the trap there wasn't any room to get in there and
take it apart.

slow draining shower
 

On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:59:45 -0700, alath wrote:

Moved in to new house. The shower drains very slowly. This is a tiled
shower stall, not a tub.
I tried using liquid plumber; no luck.

Rinse that out well.

Some one here has reported success with a wet-dry vac, on wet. If
that works, it would be the easiest I think, and you could see how
much came out.

I can do a fair number of home repair projects, but have done very
little with plumbing and drains. Do I want to try to rent a snake and
mess with this myself? Or just call a plumber?
If I do it myself, tips hints and instructions would be appreciated.

slow draining shower
 

Thanks for the help, all.

I tried the coat hangar trick and got a fair sized wad of hair, but it
still drained slowly.

I went to Menard's and got a cheap 15' snake. It might have been about
5' in when I retrieved what initially looked like a very large rat,
but was actually a gigantic loathsome mass of hair and random sewer
crud.

Shower drains great now.

Thanks for the tips and hints.

slow draining shower
 

"Ken" wrote in message
...
Smitty Two wrote:
In article .com,
alath wrote:

First you look at the trap. It is an S-shaped pipe
underneath every sink or drain in my house and probably yours. Could
be in the basement or crawl space maybe in a wall.
I was wondering about the trap. This home is built on a concrete slab
floor. I don't think I am going to be able to get at the trap to take
it apart.

If it's hair in the trap, a gallon of standard laundry bleach poured down
the drain before you go to bed for the night will dissolve it.

I did not know that bleach alone would dissolve hair. Is this true??

not that I know of, but it may clear the gunk making it stick to the drain
pipe. Of corse if your on a septic system both the bleach and the hair
passing to the tank/field is bad news......



Don't use any water in that bathroom for at least eight hours, including
the toilet and sink. If that doesn't clear it out then if it were me I'd
call a plumber. I've found cheap snakes to be useless, and good ones are
expensive and take finesse to use properly. Sure the theory of operation
is uncomplicated, but it takes experience to do a decent job. This is all
based on my own experience of 25 years with a pesky bathtub drain, I
must've tried snaking it myself at least fifty times, which sometimes
improved it for a few months but the slow draining kept coming back. Over
the years I had four or five different plumbers over to snake it, and
that usually lasted about six months. Finally I found a guy who knew what
he was doing and haven't had a single problem since he was here five
years ago.

Incidentally, my house is also on a slab and I even cut a hole in the
kitchen cupboard down by the floor to try to gain trap access and
although I could see the trap there wasn't any room to get in there and
take it apart.

slow draining shower
 

"news" wrote in message
...
Just take a metal coat hanger, straighten it out, and bend about a half
inch to about 60 degrees. Then take the cover off the drain and stick the
coat hanger down their and pull up all the hair.

Just a note that if you take the drain cover off you might need a bit of
plumbers putty when replacing the cover.



"alath" wrote in message
oups.com...
Moved in to new house. The shower drains very slowly. This is a tiled
shower stall, not a tub.
I tried using liquid plumber; no luck.
I can do a fair number of home repair projects, but have done very
little with plumbing and drains. Do I want to try to rent a snake and
mess with this myself? Or just call a plumber?
If I do it myself, tips hints and instructions would be appreciated.