Shower Drain leaking into cabinet below/downstairs

[Cynthia Boykin]

Hello all! Newbie here (both to the forum AND to this sort of repair). I recently found out by sheer luck that I had water dripping/leaking onto the top "roof" of an in-wall cabinet built under a soffit. I am assuming it's been goin on a fairly long time to have finally soaked the compressed board enough to soften it and let water leak. (I happened to open the center top cabinet in the photo, and noticed how "cold" it felt, then realized the top of it was bowed and damp, and there was water on the shelf of the cabinet itself). I poked a hole in it and a small amount of water dripped out. I measured out distances downstairs and upstairs and realized this is directly below my master bath shower (I tested the theory by running the hall bath shower for a while, then mine later, and only got water there after running my shower.

First attempt at "fix" was adding a thick line of silicone around the outer rim of the drain on the shower floor, as it looked like that caulk/silicone was not totally sealed (I've been in this house 2 years, it was purchased in a rush as a fixer upper after my husband died, and I am not a fixer upper so this is insanity personified ), as it appeared to have a bit of mildew under it. Let that set, and tried again, still have water.

I cut a hole in the cabinet big enough to take a photo, which I have attached -clearly it is water coming from the shower drain itself, not a cracked pipe or anything; gravity has obviously pulled water down around the pipe, and then it starts dripping downward (onto 2x4 and then down onto cabinet directly below); the length of the pipe as it traverses across has no water on it.

Someone in a Facebook group suggested a Wing-Tite insert. I have no idea if that is what I need - I have a 2" wide opening to the drain. Would prefer to fix from top if possible. Have read suggestion to use pipe wrench opened inside hole as far as possible to grab and turn but I don't know if that's where I start. Any suggestions? I would love to be able to accomplish this myself! Thanks in adv and sorry for the novel!

 

[John Gayewski]

I believe i recognize that drain. You need to access it from below to fix it properly. Anything else it's a band aid.

You could possibly remove it from above and replace it with a different one. Either way it's not an easy fix. Unless you have a lot of patience or determination, without knowing what your doing,I think I'd hire someone if I were you.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cynthia Boykin]

I believe i recognize that drain. You need to access it from below to fix it properly. Anything else it's a band aid.

You could possibly remove it from above and replace it with a different one. Either way it's not an easy fix. Unless you have a lot of patience or determination, without knowing what your doing,I think I'd hire someone if I were you.

thank you for the kind insight! I have just sent a text to someone recommended to me.... I'd rather not break my house LOL! Thank you again!

 

[Cynthia Boykin]

I believe i recognize that drain. You need to access it from below to fix it properly. Anything else it's a band aid.

You could possibly remove it from above and replace it with a different one. Either way it's not an easy fix. Unless you have a lot of patience or determination, without knowing what your doing,I think I'd hire someone if I were you.

Side note, patience is NOT a virtue of mine so thanks for including that important nugget!!