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shower drain install in slab

Ken | Posted in Construction Techniques on February 26, 2007 02:10am

Hi all,

I have a basement slab with plumbing roughed in for a bathroom. The plumbers left a 2 inch drain pipe coming out of the floor.

The shower basin I’ve bought only has a half inch clearance (or less) underneath the floor to put a drain in.

The big boxes didn’t have anything to fit. Their drains are designed to sit below the floor level as you would have with joists.

Would be reasonable to assume a plumbing supply shop will have something that goes inside the pipe? Or am I stuck with knocking the concrete back and putting one of the big box fixtures in?

I’m also thinking this would be very common in “slab-on-grade” building areas, just not so much here.

Reply

Replies

  1. alwaysoverbudget | Feb 26, 2007 02:36am | #1

    check for the type that you install in the base, then set the base in place with the pipe just comeing thru the fitting. you then slide a rubber donut over the pipe and tighten a internal nut to snug it all together. i'm not sire how far down they stick but if you do need to knock some concrete it would be very little. larry

    hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.

    1. Ken | Feb 26, 2007 04:36am | #6

      Thanks much,
      Ken++++++++++++++++++

      The average pilot, despite the somewhat swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy, and caring.These feelings just don't involve anyone else.

  2. DanH | Feb 26, 2007 04:00am | #2

    The shower base I used worked this way:

    -- Set the drain pipe (with trap) in the slab, with some length (I think 2") standing proud.

    -- Set base over drain. (Cross fingers that they line up.)

    -- Press rubber donut down in the space between the drain opening of the base and the drain pipe.

    Any scheme you use will need to be such that it can be secured from above, after the base is in place. Don't know what other scheme would work.

    So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
    1. davidmeiland | Feb 26, 2007 04:13am | #3

      That sounds like a Florestone pan..?

      If you're using a shower pan that needs a drain fitting, these are good:

      http://www.oatey.com/shower_drains/101pnc.html

      The brass ones are my fave. They attach to the pan, then drop over the pipe. It's essentially a compression fitting that is tightened from the top using a little tool that comes with the drain.

      1. DanH | Feb 26, 2007 04:17am | #4

        Corning.
        So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin

        1. davidmeiland | Feb 26, 2007 04:22am | #5

          Hmmm.... sounds like they use the same detail. You jam the tapered rubber doughnut down around the pipe and you're done. Convenient because you can rough in the pipe to any height you want, drop the pan in place, cut the pipe down with an inside cutter, and hit it with the doughnut.

      2. Ken | Mar 03, 2007 06:37pm | #9

        David,Thanks, worked like a champ.Ken++++++++++++++++++

        The average pilot, despite the somewhat swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy, and caring.These feelings just don't involve anyone else.

    2. Ken | Feb 26, 2007 04:37am | #7

      Thanks much,And they did at least line up :-) Must have measured that part 20 times.++++++++++++++++++

      The average pilot, despite the somewhat swaggering exterior, is very much capable of such feelings as love, affection, intimacy, and caring.These feelings just don't involve anyone else.

      1. alwaysoverbudget | Feb 26, 2007 05:28am | #8

        davids got you the one everybody is talking about.i had never seen the brass ones,but i will look for them next time. larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.

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