Any ideas what i can do to fix this without tearing out the shower?

shower drain never backs up, but pipe below it does leak below shower floor and only when taking shower. See pics.

The drain must be leaking. It gets wet inside that wall and with long showers, it leaks out onto the finished floor.

Pic 2 is the lower part of that wall you see in the other pic (red box). With that blue plastic wall cover removed.

wet with every shower where the yellow X is and then gets wet where the black X is with longer showers. shower drain is just a few inches higher and never backs up.

This shower was installed over 10 years ago and this issue just started happening in the last 8 months. Started shortly after i had the outside sewer line replaced and tenant moved in at same time. maybe coincidence. Maybe previous tenants never took long showers.

The other day we did run a snake down the shower drain at least 10 feet. that is well into the new sewer line that was replaced about 8 months ago. Its still getting wet as mentioned above after snakeing.

pics [imgur.com]

do you have access from underneath like in a crawl or basement? or 2nd floor?



Edited 1 times.

Is the drain assembly integral with the pan or is it a separate unit that's attached to the pan? I would remove the screen and check the donut gasket. If it's a separate drain assembly, there could be 2 possible gasket/seal locations that could cause a leak. One is between the flange and the pan, the other between the assembly and the pipe(donut). You could clean and dry the area of the flange(and surrounding pan) and the inner wall of the pipe, and then duct tape from the pan to inside of the pipe. This will keep water from the 2 gasket seal areas. Run the shower and see if water continues to leak. If no leak the drain assembly needs to be resealed/replaced.

no

it dont leak if no human body and associated weight is on the shower pan.

we pulled the drain cover and see the inside of 90 degree pipe and see no gasket.

this may sound like an unnecessary step but important to 100% eliminate any other possibilities. fill a 5 gallon bucket and pour it into the shower. do this a couple of times. (obviously with no one standing in the shower)

post back what happened.

quote: "it dont leak if no human body and associated weight is on the shower pan. "

your drain has become separated from the pan and it becomes obvious with the weight of a person.
there is no way to correct this situation with this style drain because it tightens from underneath.

I would upload a photo just in case you haven't identified your drain correctly. Remove the cover, snap a photo and upload it here.

it might also be the connection between the trap riser pipe and the drain itself.
some were made with lead/oakum, some with a rubber donut and some were butcher together with silicone caulk.
point i'm trying to make is that joint can also be the culprit. the good news is 'that' is fixable from above.
P/S, i'm dealing with this type leak this week.
bad news is that it is located right above a fairly new, fairly expensive kitchen.
the people have another shower so i am procrastinating doing the job. UGH..

If it only leaks with a person in it, you could have stress cracks in the pan itself. If you have access to the trap, I would plug the drain with a rag, and watch the trap as somebody gets into the shower. If the leak comes from the drain or trap you should be able to see it or rule out the trap & drain assembly this way,

"I would upload a photo just in case you haven't identified your drain correctly. Remove the cover, snap a photo and upload it here."

ok

Im removing the foam. If I do get this fixed, then what? How about cutting some blocks to fit below the pan and using block caulking to hold in place?

The pan should be bedded in mortar. Foam doesn't support the pan enough.

bruce i agree mortar is best but shoving enough in using a stick is likely to not provide full coverage.
i'd use expanding foam with a long straw.
i saw somewhere you take the wires out of a short piece of 14/2 romex and use the plastic covering as an extension for the provided straw.

I've used low expansion foam when we were called in after the fact. That Romex trick should work. You just want the least compression.

picture is not able to show the leakage clearly.

with grate removed [imgur.com]

The white plastic ring with the notches is a nut, that when turned clockwise, will squish the rubber donut below it and seal the drain pipe to the drain assembly. Check and see if you can turn that nut. When you buy a drain assembly, it comes with this wrench to tighten the nut.

but it looks like the pipe is below the lower edge of the keyed drain assembly.

What about using underwater rated caulking? Any other options that don't require removal of shower pan?

Everything there is 10 years old.

The only pipe seal is made below the nut, where the donut(compression gasket) is.