Crooked Shower Drain Pipe w/ Kerdi Shower Drain

[Nathan C.]

Help! I plan on installing this Kerdi Shower Drain but the PVC coming up through the slab is pretty crooked. I am definitely going to need to cut the pipe down to seat the drain at the correct height. But with this angle in the pipe, I won't be able to connect the pipe correctly. What should my next step be? Are there products made to address this? Do I need to starting chiseling up the concrete and excavate down to the P trap to fix everything? Am I completely hosed?? Any input is great appreciated as I am at a standstill with this right now.

 

[Breplum]

Couple of choices of what to do.
1. Break concrete and fix the piping, then re-pour concrete as per Schulter specs.
2. Keep the concrete and use a different drain pan (more conventional system) and a rubber gasketed "instant set" drain.
Frank Pattern is a name we run into at some supply houses.
For this situation, the rubber should be able to handle the angle, but you will have to test install to see if that angle will work.
https://www.lspproducts.com/wp-cont...Floor-Drain-with-Membrane-Clamp-70X-N70X0.pdf
Plumbing supply houses have these things.
Sioux Chief has some dandy drain fittings for uneven stubs, but you will have to search that if you want to pursue that.
Find the idiots who set you up for this and sue them. No excuse for crap work like that!

 

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[Nathan C.]

Thank you so much for the quick reply. I checked out the drains you suggested but am not sure how they would interface with the preformed pan I plan to install or like you say, whether or not they'd work with the angle. I'll have to research more and appreciate you pointing those options out.

I feel like the proper thing to do might be to dig. But I have no experience with plumbing below grade like that. No idea how deep the trap might be, or what direction the pipe runs, or how much effort that process would entail. Certainly willing to attempt if it's within the realm of something I could do myself. Pretty handy.... but obviously not a plumber.

Another thought that crossed my mind was taking out enough concrete from one side of the pipe to provide access to 1) cut the pipe down a bit and 2) install something like a flexible PVC coupling with stainless clamps between the drain pipe and Kerdi drain. Would there be concerns with doing something like that?

Thanks again!

 

[Breplum]

The slab is likely four or five inches. Flashlight will show how deep the ptrap is.
A 2" no hub coupling, if there is enough room on the riser and depending on the angle of adjustment may work.

 

[Nathan C.]

I think I'll bust out a small section of slab in the direction of the p-trap and see if I can't rectify the issue. I wonder if using a jack hammer 18" way from the shower water lines, also coming up through the slab would be a bad idea.

PS. I don't think they installed the pipe that way. These 20 year old houses on slab in central texas are notorious for settling and shifting a bit, especially in times of drought which we've had plenty of. We have other signs that the house has settled. I think it's related to that, which doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy about other pipes traveling through the slab throughout the house. Hopefully it's done settling!

 

[Jadnashua]

It depends on how much length you have above the p-trap. If there's enough, a couple of 1/8th or 1/16th bends with proper rotation, can probably straighten that up. But, not if you don't have enough length. You might be able to fix that without chopping up your slab. The diameter of the Kerdi shower drain is close to 12", so any minor plumb error gets magnified, and when installing it, could put a lot of stress on the bonds. IOW, you really don't want to go there!

But, if you can get to the p-trap, and cut that off, you should be able to get things back together so the pipe is plumb. Using the foam pan, you don't have a lot of leeway about the exact location. Once you have the pipe plumb, if it's off too far, you either have to move the walls of the shower or cut the pan, or maybe better, would be to forego the foam pan, and make your own out of deck mud. Another alternative is there are a few companies that will mill a foam pan to your exact requirements. Check out www.johnbridge.com for that part of it.

 

[Nathan C.]

Thanks for the reply! I am in the process up breaking up a small section of slab in hopes of accessing the p-trap. My goal is to replace it, allowing me to set a new vertical drain pipe in a plumb position, like you suggested. Fortunately, the drain is already extremely close to where I need it using the Kerdi drain and pan, it's just needs to be straight so I can get a good fit. You're right, there's certainly not much leeway working with this Kerdi stuff!

 

[Nathan C.]

Yeah on second thought, there's no way I'm getting down there to work. You can see where the pipe used to be seated before it shifted. They had cement so tight around it. Ugh!!

 

[Nathan C.]

It depends on how much length you have above the p-trap. If there's enough, a couple of 1/8th or 1/16th bends with proper rotation, can probably straighten that up. But, not if you don't have enough length. You might be able to fix that without chopping up your slab. The diameter of the Kerdi shower drain is close to 12", so any minor plumb error gets magnified, and when installing it, could put a lot of stress on the bonds. IOW, you really don't want to go there!

But, if you can get to the p-trap, and cut that off, you should be able to get things back together so the pipe is plumb. Using the foam pan, you don't have a lot of leeway about the exact location. Once you have the pipe plumb, if it's off too far, you either have to move the walls of the shower or cut the pan, or maybe better, would be to forego the foam pan, and make your own out of deck mud. Another alternative is there are a few companies that will mill a foam pan to your exact requirements. Check out www.johnbridge.com for that part of it.

Here's what I came up with. Seems like a viable solution. Thoughts?