Shower plumbing troubles

[Abby]

Hello,
I'm new here and am currently working on a Schluter system shower remodel. I demoed the old shower down to the studs and exposed the p trap in the slab. I am a DIY-er who has previous experience with the Schluter shower system. My problem is that the plumbing part of the project is not going smoothly. While trying to remove and replace the old cast iron p-trap and riser, the pipe that goes to the wall broke. I don't have a lot of plumbing knowledge and am not sure how big of a problem I have on my hands.

My dad was helping me and thought that he could insert ABS pipe with a smaller diameter (1.5 inch) and bond it to the small amount of 2 in metal pipe that was remaining. Then he used an adapter to connect additional 2 in diameter ABS + the p-trap. This seems a little haphazard to me, so I wanted to seek other opinions about the correct method of repair.

I'm sure I'm not explaining this very well, so I'm attaching a picture of the broken pipe.

Thank you,
Abby

 

[Terry]

You may have 2" cast iron that you can cut and then couple to.
If that is the case, you would use a 2" p-trap. Most cast with hub ends of that size is 2"
The galvanized going into that was 1.5"

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Abby]

You may have 2" cast iron that you can cut and then couple to.
If that is the case, you would use a 2" p-trap. Most cast with hub ends of that size is 2"
The galvanized going into that was 1.5"

Thank you for your reply. I'm such a newbie at this. Is this something that I should call a plumber to help with or can I fix it DIY? The broken pipe left in the ground is pretty short (less than an inch) and hard to access (I dug a bigger hole under the slab to see it). Is there enough pipe to couple? And can I use ABS pipe for my repair?

 

[hj]

You have a big problem. That pipe was screwed into a cast iron "Durham" tee and the side opening broke off of it. Now you have to remove the tee before you can run the new drain and trap. Since it is all galvanized steel piping it is not an easy DIY job.

 

[JohnfrWhipple]

Hello,
I'm new here and am currently working on a Schluter system shower remodel. ....

Do you worry about tremors and such with a thin membrane like Kerdi. A properly built Kerdi shower could see a 4 mil 4/1000" membrane used to reinforce your floor to wall plane. For my California clients we always recommend a Hot Mop pan or one made from Noble Company. I would not recommend a Kerdi membrane for the floor. Or for the floor to wall change of plane.

To put 4/1000" into perspective your bank card is 30 mil or 30/1000". Think about it. You want your waterproofing at the corner to be roughly 1/7 that thickness. NobleSeal TS is 30 mil and a hot mop in the 30-60 mil range.

 

[Abby]

Thanks, I'll call a plumber for the job.

John-- thanks for pointing that out.

 

[JohnfrWhipple]

If you install Noble's membrane you can use A product called CIS or TS. One is 6' wide the roll and one 5'. If you feel like the orange stuff is good enough at the very least use the thicker roll called Kerdi DS. And do not use kerdi Band in the corners.

You can still build the shower with a hot mop and then use Kerdi on the walls. Most of my clients like this approach but instead of Kerdi we use Noble's products.

 

[Jadnashua]

Kerdi is 8 mils thick...you can wrap that up the wall if you prefer...Kerdi doesn't care if you use Kerdiband or just overlap Kerdi to make a seam, or cut a band of Kerdi and make your seam with the edges of Kerdi under it just butted together. Kerdiband is thinner so you don't get major speed bumps when you make your seams. Waterproofing a corner means typically at least 3 layers with sealant between them which is nearly 1/8" hump if you use Noble TS without a lot of extra steps. Kerdi is less than a 1/3'rd as thick, and passed all of the same waterproofing tests, and has been around for about a quarter century...if it didn't work, they'd be out of business, and not still growing each year.