Homemade shower won't drain, any suggestions?

Tapier

Hi there everyone,

Our bathroom has a shower which is rather heavily homemade (heavily homemade meaning it was probably wasn't installed by a plumber)
It looks quite nice, you have to walk into to it (imagine the cross section of a conch shell) and I can appreciate the ambition. The walls are made from blue and transparent bricks of glass.

The problem is that the water won't drain away completely. There's always about 1/4' water left in it (at it's deepest). Up to that point it drains perfectly. This is due to two reasons: A) The floor in the shower is just made up of big 1"X1" square tiles and isn't quite level (probably 1/64' slopy) B) The plug hole/trap/drainage hole sits above the tiles by 1/4'!!

I've been racking my brain as to what I can do about this without ripping up the tiles (or getting a plumber to come in and rip them up). I would like to be able to just modify the plug hole slightly to encourage water in. I was thinking about drilling 4 holes around the edge of the drainage cover to do this. However I'm scared that if I do this water will start draining around the pipes and into the chinese restaurant below.

The slopey floor isn't so much of a problem it's just getting the water into the plug hole. It's a mission to clean this shower because the water sloshes around the plughole instead of being sucked into it.

The glass walls and the stagnant water makes heaven for the pink tile mould.

Any suggestions, anything at all would be appreciated greatly.

latecomer

Sounds like a nightmare. I presume you cant get access to underneath given that it must be in a flat if you have a restaurant underneath?

Dont drill any holes unless you know what you are doing. I would recommend getting in a plumber as it sounds like you only have 2 options

1. remove the tiles and start again
2. try and lower the waste which may result in having to remove all the tiles and start again.

can you take a picture of the problem and post it up?

chateauneufdupape

Could you raise the floor with a screed or by retiling and create a slight slope, say 1:100, and make the low point at your outlet?

Tapier

Hey, I'm a novice at forums. Hopefully these links will work

One image of the whole shower walking in. The plug being in the center and the slope going down to the upper right of the photo.

The other image is with the camera on the floor of the shower facing the plug (which you can see is clearly higher than the tiles). The camera direction is in line with the slope on the floor.

Note the glass wall of the shower which lets light in.

One last note, we're not using this shower that much as our flat has two. So this shower is kinda yucky but we as occupants are most certainly not!:D

latecomer

My honest opinion is that it was fitted/designed badly. I would suggest the best way to fix the issue to take up the floor tiles and re-do them either lifting the floor level or dropping the drain at the same time. As you dont need to use it you could make it a long term project and take as much time as you like to DIY it

Tapier

Ah good! The photo's have worked!

I'm afraid this is where it gets a bit awkward. I want to solve this failing shower but I can't move the tiles. After all I'm just a tenant. Now what I didn't say in my my first posting is that this shower initially leaked into Chinese restaurant's spice room when we first moved in. It was quite alarming when the caretaker knocked on our door to tell us about it. Not very hygienic for the restaurant either. YUK!
Just having to arrange with our landlord (who is very conveniently halfway across the country) was really really really difficult. He's not a crook just a !!!!!!!, but what's new hey? The landlord is a huge cheapskate and would send round really dodgy guys who weren't really plumbers. He laughed when I asked him to get someone professional.

So you see my predicament. If we do the ideal thing, which is ripping it all out and put a normal shower in there, then I also open up a world trouble. I'm hoping it might be easier to see if I can get this shower draining with one or two adjustments to the plug hole.

Here is my idea about drilling four holes around the plug hole. The areas with a red outline signifiy the modifications where the drill has removed material (PVC in this case).

latecomer

I didn't realise it was a rented place and it changes things considerably. I personally wouldn't drill it as there is a chance it might crack or cause other problems. And if it does I would presume that the landlord will hold you responsible for the cost of fixing it.

can you remove the top cover on the drain to see the inside? If you are going to attempt anything you want to make sure you know what you are dealing with.

olias

This might sound like a bodge job, but you could tile on top of the existing tiles to raise the floor level around the plug and also sort out the fall. Apparently existing tiles are an excellent surface to tile onto (provided they are fitted well initially!). It should cost very little as there are only about 12 tiles from what I can see. Together with waterproof grout, sealant, etc should be able to do it for about £30-£40 and take a short afternoon to do.

If the landlord is a cheapskate who doesn't like getting the pros in, then suggest doing it yourself in return for Knocking £50 off next months rent?

Olias

andyhop

that shower is not fit for purpose, looking at the tiling and drain alone it was not installed by a proffesional

The waste outlet does not look large enough to drain away a resonable pressure shower, drilling round it and you could damage the tanking ,thats if it has been fitted