Clogged Shower Drain

Most clogged shower drain can be removed with a minimum of hassle and mess. For that, you need a few simple tools and common sense to the the job done right.

Main causes for a clogged shower drain:

The most common causes of a shower drain clog are: human hair buildup, shampoo, soap and grease build up.

How easy is it to unclog a shower drain?

Depending of the age of the home, the shower drain can be one of the easiest drains to work with. Why is that? Well, let's say that your home is 45 years old and your plumbing system is made of cast iron or galvanize pipes.

If this your case, then, you might have a serious problem. It could be a problem because most drains have a p-trap attached to it, this p-trap holds water to prevent sewer gas from coming inside the house, however, if the p-trap is made of cast iron or galvanize pipe, the inner diameter of the trap is smaller than most modern p-traps, consequently, if the drain gets clogged beyond the p-trap, chances are that you will have a hard time to cable through the p-trap.

If the p-trap on the clogged shower drain is made of plastic (ABS), then, your job will be a lot easier and quicker to unplug the drain.

Steps to unclog the drain:

1 - Remove the screen cover from the drain and, remove any visible debris that you find inside the drain, including hair and soap scum, run water to test the drain. More the 50% of the time, the clog is right in the trap, but if it doesn't work, move to step 2.

2 - Buy a plunger designed to work with flat drains, then, plunge the drain a couple of times, if the water doesn't drain, then, the blockage might be further and it might be a little bit more serious, go to step 3.

3 - Buy or rent a hand cable machine, once, you have removed the screen cover, you slowly feed the cable inside the drain, until you find resistance or you unclog the drain. Test the drain with running water to see if it is working. If still doesn't work, go to step 4.

4 - At this point, you should consider hiring a professional or please, visit my website for general plumbing articles: http://www.diy-plumbing-and-drain.com/

The information provided here, it is provided as is and, if you decided to use it to solve your plumbing problems, you do so, at your own risk.