Removal of old shower drain base

[ken mifsud]

I have a shower base that came with the house when it was built in 1974. I'm trying to remove the base and redo the odd shaped 46" x 34" shower. The shower drain is a Casper Industries, 101BR. It has a metal ring, but unlike other similar drains that I've read about online, it doesn't have an inner rubber flange holding the drain pipe snugly inside the drain. Rather, the inner ring (see photo) is aluminum or stainless steel. (I know because I attempted to drill holes in it to facilitate removal. ) Does anyone have any idea how to remove the drain so that I can toss the base and start over? The drain is in cement slab so no access from below.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[James Henry]

Drill a hole a through the shower base 1/2" away from the drain big enough to get a jig saw or sawzall blade through and cut around the drain leaving the drain. Remove the base. Then you can see what you need to do.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[JohnjH2o1]

That is a poured lead joint. Drill more holes close together so you can pick out the lead with a screw driver. Under the lead is oakum a rope like material that can also be picked out freeing the base from the steel pipe.

 

[ken mifsud]

That is a poured lead joint. Drill more holes close together so you can pick out the lead with a screw driver. Under the lead is oakum a rope like material that can also be picked out freeing the base from the steel pipe.

Thank you John and James for the advice. I'll try drilling more holes and removing the oakum. Hopefully that will free the base.

 

[ken mifsud]

One more question: How deep do you think the lead goes before I hit the oakum?

 

[James Henry]

If you can remove the base like I described the you can cut the shower drain in half with a sawzall and split it apart to remove it.
be careful not to cut to deep.