Old Shower - puddles because drain is now above bottom

[Kstuart]

Hi,
A few years back I bought and moved into a house built in 1978 in a nice area. It was a foreclosure so a great price, but I received no information from the previous owner.

I have replaced a lot of the fixtures, including installing a Toto Drake from the great information in this Forum.

The last issue is the shower stall. I know nothing about showers or bathtubs.

The stall is one piece - I'm guessing fibreglass. The bottom is lower in spots than the drain and so water puddles in an area on the bottom of the shower after you are finished showering.

The drain works fine, and the puddling occurs because the area is below the top of the drain. It's been like that ever since we bought the house.

I'm sure a contractor would say "replace it with a new one". But the bathroom is really small, and I expect you would end up having to gut and remodel the entire bathroom as a result. Everything else about the bathroom is fine, and the shower is otherwise fine, so a simple and inexpensive fix would be best.

SO - I am wondering if there is any way to simply fill or build up the area where it puddles, with perhaps epoxy or fibreglass? Note that above probably makes it sound worse than it is - the puddle is only about 1/8 inch deep.

Thanks for any suggestions !

(I can add pictures if it would help in any way.)

 

[Jadnashua]

Does the surface move when you step on and off of it? Is there any crazing of the surface (looks sort of like lots of little scratches)? IF the area flexes, surface fixes won't help. If there is crazing, it probably won't help, but it's a sign that it may be close to fracturing and begin to leak.

It's tough to try to get something underneath to fill in. SPray foam tends to fracture and/or compress over time, and if overdone, could create a hump. Rigid stuff is really hard to stuff in there. A guy that does fiberglass repairs might be able to built it up, but it may or may not look great depending on how big the area, or eventually fails.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Kstuart]

Thanks for your comment.

The bottom is not flexing - I just think that it has slowly gone down in places over the years.

I don't think there is an easy access to under the shower, so the practical fixes would hopefully be about applying something to the spot where the puddle is forming.

 

[Dj2]

Q: Was it draining fine before and just recently started to puddle?

If yes, you could have a partial blockage in your drain line.

 

[Kstuart]

Thanks, but no.

The drain works fine, and the puddling occurs because the area is below the top of the drain. It's been like that ever since we bought the house.

 

[Reach4]

(I can add pictures if it would help in any way.)

It might. If only the drain was high, I was wondering if a WingTite or BruCo drain could be put in there.

I would think there would be some epoxy that could fill in your low spots, but I can't identify one for you. You might add "self leveling" to your epoxy search.

 

[Jadnashua]

SOme of the drains used are just literally a press fit. If the drain pipe was a bit high, and the shower floor wasn't solid, it may have been pushed down, leaving the drain high but was fine when initially installed. It's really hard to say without seeing it, and a picture may not show the actual contours. It might help if you could put a straight-edge from the edge towards the drain and catch the picture so you can see the gap beneath to get an idea of what's happened.

There are people that repair fiberglass tubs/showers/boats that might be able to fix this and have it look good, but I think it would be a bandaid. Hard to say for sure. It might end up costing as much as replacing the shower, since many of those aren't really all that expensive if: 1., you can get a one-piece unit through the door, 2. you prep the area well, 3. you can do the work yourself. The alternative is a multiple piece unit, that is designed to be either retrofitted, or in new. A one-piece often is put in place before the place is closed in, so may be too big to get inside.

 

[Kstuart]

"A one-piece often is put in place before the place is closed in, so may be too big to get inside."
That seems likely.
Here is a picture, note that the dark edge of the puddle (and elsewhere) is minerals in our water.
A lack of perpetual water in the shower would make it easier to keep clean (and less work).
Again, the deepest part is about 1/8 inch.

 

[Terry]

There are people that will refinish an entire fiberglass stall. I would check with them.
What happens when you remove the white strainer? Is that what is damming the water?

 

[Kstuart]

There are people that will refinish an entire fiberglass stall. I would check with them.
What happens when you remove the white strainer? Is that what is damming the water?

How should the strainer remove? Turn counter-clockwise? Pry Up?

 

[Jadnashua]

It doesn't appear that there are any screws...my guess is that it is held in place with some spring clips.

 

[Kstuart]

I pried the drain strainer off with a screwdriver, it was just pressed into the drain.

That allowed some more water to drain, but not all of it (or even most of it). There is stilll a higher area at the drain edge than the wet puddle areas.

Here is a picture without the strainer:

 

[Jadnashua]

How is the pipe attached to the drain body? ON some, it is glued, on others, it's a compression fit, that may include a rubber gasket. I may not have encompassed all of them. Normally, you need to have access from below to make the attachment, but not all.

Is the drain pipe plastic or metal? After being in one position for a long time, the pan will take a set. The only way to fix that may be replacing it, or refinishing the pan so it has proper slope at the required height at the drain. You might be able to remove the drain and try something else, but that's beyond my skill level or experience.

 

[Kstuart]

So, I have done a number of web searches, and my current thought is to just get fiberglass resin, and fill and level the area where the water collects.

Does anyone have any recommendations for which fiberglass resin to use?

Also, what cleaner to use to prep before applying the fiberglass?

Thanks!

 

[Kstuart]

Some more web searching turned up several other people with the same question - and no answers to any of them - including one old post in this same Forum.

But, I finally found something online that references an issue of Popular Mechanics in 1982, where the question answers guy contacted a manufacturer who gave a simple procedure.

There is still the question of which fiberglass resin to use. There is a product called Marine-Tex, which is more expensive, but looks like it might have some advantages? Anyone have any experience with that ?

The PM 82 reference:

https://books.google.com/books?id=0...onepage&q=fiberglass "low spot" drain&f=false