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enter image description hereIn my plastic or fiberglass or ... tub, there is a thick gasket (or caulk) sandwiched between the drain and the tub itself. Everything is likely a couple decades old. The raised drain prevents the last few ounces of water from draining. The puddle extends beyond the molded-in recess by 6-7 inches in all directions. I'm guessing the installer, years ago, didn't want to squirm back into the crawl space in order to put the gasket under the tub. I'm not so willing either, but would do it if that is the correct placement.

I thought about filling the recess with caulk, but the height of the drain is 1/8" or so above the tub floor, so there would still be a 12-14" diameter puddle. So it seems I need to disassemble the drain, buy a new gasket, install it underneath. Is there a better way? what details do I need to pay attention to in order to do a good job?

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Update #1:

Searched for drain shoe and found this: https://edmondbathtubrefinishing.com/bathtub-drain-plumbing-diagram-a-complete-guide-to-every-component/, and the tool looked familiar, and I did find it in my drawer of plumbing tools. I must have bought this years ago in a garage sale box of stuff. Its nifty, takes 3/8" or 1/2" ratchets. drain basket removal tool

The basket unscrewed with out much effort. In fact it could have come out with a wish. Maybe the gasket shrunk. No gasket underneath, and no room underneath to place one without freeing up the pipeing in the crawl space. Perhaps the tub bottom is deformed from having had the gasket place wrongly. The gasket seems a little stiff, might as well replace it. drain basket and gasket

The drain shoe shifted out of alignment towards the plumbing wall, and won't readily realign. drain shoe shifted out of alignment

I removed the overflow cover. It's stamped Watco and Cleanout. enter image description here

And screws into a plastic three-wing fitting. enter image description here

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Update #2

I reattached the chrome overflow cap so that I wouldn't lose that registration, put on my respirator, then dropped through a closet trap door, with an old bed sheet to crawl on and a super bright led light to see. Here's the trap. enter image description here

Here's the ABS shooting up out of the trap enter image description here

It continues straight up to the overflow: enter image description here

Here's the shoe. You might be able to make out the stain on the tub bottom (revealed when the ABS sprung back ~ 1/8" , stopping when the upper bell of the Tee hit the subfloor cutout.) enter image description here

There is no union anywhere. It's monolithic. There is insufficient play to slip a gasket between the shoe and the bottom of the tub. To do a good job would require sawzalling the ABS, unscrewing the coupling from the cast iron tee, then rebuilding it with adjustments. There is a forearm's distance between the dirt and the joists.

I climbed out, grabbed a flat bar and some cedar shingle scraps aka shims, then dropped back down to wedge one (marked with an X) between the Tee and subfloor cutout.

That realigned the shoe with the hole in the tub.

Climbed out, reinstalled the drain basket w/gasket, took a shower, laundered my clothes. enter image description here

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  • Not sure what you mean by "reason". Why would the installer have intentionally sought to cause water to pool? Commented 2 days ago
  • 1
    Dirt crawl space. Of all the sinks I've dealt with, the drain pipe is slip jointed to account for the issue you speak of. Commented 2 days ago
  • 1
    And if it had been a concrete floor, the correct approach would have been to cut a channel in the concrete, not make the tub fail to drain correctly. Concrete gets cut all the time. Commented 2 days ago
  • Your tub drain basket tool may or may not fit your actual basket crossbars. I've never encountered a drain basket that unscrewed "easily", if it's been in place a few years. A big wrench with a handle extension may be needed. There is "no-stain" plumbers putty available made specifically for plastic/fiberglass tubs. The drain basket threads will not completely seal just by themselves, hence the need for putty (or a gasket on tubs designed for such, as yours is apparently not). Commented yesterday
  • @kreemoweet thanks, please see the updates above. Commented yesterday

2 Answers 2

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If it's a gasket, it belongs underneath. If it's caulk, it wasn't tightened and wiped properly. Or the gasket underneath was skipped, and the basket ran out of room to thread into the drain shoe and tighten against the tub properly.

Normally what's here is either plumbers putty or silicone caulk (tub manufacturers [now] vary on the recommended product - apparently the oil in plumber's putty can stain some plastic tubs in a way that is not an issue for porcelain, so it's no longer as simple as one product is always right.)

Assuming the threaded parts will unscrew, you:

  • Remove the stopper

  • Unscrew the drain basket

  • Remove the [gasket or caulking] from the tub

  • Clean the tub and basket very well.

Check if there is a gasket under the tub, and if the drain shoe has remained in a position where you can simply screw the basket back into it. If so, you can probably avoid a crawl. If not, underside access is likely called for.

When re-assembling, be aware that the basket to drain shoe threads are quite fine and can be easily cross-threaded, which you really don't want to do. A common approach to avoid that is to slowly turn the basket backwards (as if unscrewing it - counterclockwise) and carefully feel for the point where it drops slightly as the first thread passes the first thread of the drain shoe - then start going forward (clockwise.) If you are uncertain, go backwards another turn and keep feeling for it. You should also look carefully at the basket threads to see if this happened in the past, and replace it if needed.

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  • I suppose my first step is see how easily the basket unscrews. If it is going to require some muscle, then I ought to do a crawl and see what I might break/damage, especially if the plumbing is not well supported. Fwiw, my drain stopper closes the drain by screwing it down, it screws in a tapped hole in the center of the cross member, which is to say the overflow does not have a lever. I use your back-turn method quite frequently, and always when threading into plastic. Commented 2 days ago
  • I made some progress and updated my question. Unfortunately, the other side of the plumbing wall is narrow linen closet with builtin shelves, so access will be problematic. Commented yesterday
  • Correction to my comment above. The drain stopper does NOT work by unscrewing. Well it does. I've been doing that for years, once or twice a year. Knowing the brand (Watco) I stumbled across the push-pull design, and sure enough, mine is push-pull, just needs to be cleaned up and greased. Commented yesterday
  • See update #2 in my top post. [i]"... the basket ran out of room to thread into the drain shoe"[/i]. FWIW, I tested this possibility this morning. The basket/shoe threading doesn't bottom out. With no gasket/caulk in the assembly, the basket screws down tight. Commented yesterday
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    When I looked up my tub, the manufacturer specified silicone caulking for this application. Been working for 5+ years at this point. Commented 22 hours ago
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About your update, it appears you're hesitant to completely reassemble the ABS drain to address the 1/8th inch misalignment at the tub. This is because you're not a plumbing masochist. There are flexible couplings often used to connect different material drains (ABS to PVC, cast iron or even copper (yes, discovered I had the finest tasting toilet water flowing through that massive copper pipe) which would give you the play required to align the drain: cut out a small section without joints and replace it with the flexible coupling.

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  • I'd be happy to replace all the ABS if you're willing to guarantee it won't turn into a bigger project. The drain shoe is wedge-aligned horizontally with the tub hole. That is not an issue. However the whole shoe would need to drop by at least 3/16", likely more, to accommodate a standard gasket. and downstream of the shoe allthe fittings are bell-to-bell. And I'm not willing to use hose clamps down there anyway. Commented yesterday
  • I would love that guarantee. ABS is also a thermoplastic, so you could also heat and bend to align, but it's hot and loud and uncomfortable. why no hose clamps? Commented 22 hours ago
  • So would I :) ... Commented 22 hours ago

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