Once the room was clear of any debris, I started to plan the install. First, I shoved a rag into the shower drainpipe. The smell was really bad. I laid the shower base on the now empty area. I noticed I had the proper width, but the new shower base was 2 inches less deep. I did not want to redo the vinyl floor, so I would need to fur out the back wall so the base would be flush to the floor edge. The center of the shower was now off. The drain opening and water valve needed to be moved. I knew I needed to replace the existing valve body, but now I had to replace the water lines.
After my debacle of shower drain leaks and my lack of confidence working with plumbing, Efiwym encouraged me to hire a plumber. It was not the money, but I was leaning on doing it myself. I watched many Youtube® videos and read articles and posts online. Feeling comfortable now with the work before me, I went to the home improvement store to gather all the plumbing supplies I needed.
I would start on the shower drain first. Before I could put in the drain, I needed to set in place the shower base. The base had to be squared up to the 3 studded walls and the flooring edge. I worked hard to make sure I had this part right. I dry fitted the base so I could line up the drain.
I removed the base and started with the drainpipe. I used a different drain body than the one that was provided. The new drain was a retrofit style that allowed me to install it from the top of the shower floor, not below. I cut off the existing p-trap and put together the new p-trap and connecting pipes. Again, I dry fit the pipes and put the base back down. The pipes lined up. However, when I removed the base, the pipes moved. I started over and I marked the pipes with a magic marker just in case I needed to re-line them up. Once again, I remove the base. I glued up the pipes.
I put the base back in again and slid it over the drainpipe. The pipe was not plumb. As I pushed down on the pipe it would be plumb. Thinking that I had a long length of waste pipe, I was not too concerned that I could tweak the pipe to fit. As I pushed down the pipe a little more, the pipe broke. It broke under the wall between the main bathroom and master bathroom. How could that happen? Off came the base again, so I could investigate. I could look under the floor to see the breakage since I removed the plywood subfloor under the shower.
What I saw surprised me. There was a vent pipe that was connected to the drainpipe at the wall. By pushing down on the pipe I weakened the joint and it cracked. Now what? I really messed this up. I might have to open up a wall to repair it. Why did I not get a plumber?
There is about a 9-inch false wall between the shower and the main bathroom. The room is about 4 foot 9 inches wide and the shower is 4 feet wide, hence the 9-inch wall. I could get access to the vent pipe by cutting the flooring between the walls. I could then reroute the pipes.
I went to the hardware store to get all the PVC pipe, p-trap and fittings. I would need to redo the p-trap as the other one was already glued up. I came home and saved the repair for the next day. First, I had to cut the plywood subfloor in the false wall. It was not easy to get the Ryobi® reciprocating saw between the studs to cut the plywood. Once the flooring was removed, I cut the waste and vent pipe and made the repair.
I went through the same process to get the p-trap lined up and soon I had the waste pipe done. I tightened down the brass Sioux Chief® shower drain body to the base with plenty of silicone. Prior to putting the base in place, I marked the height of the drainpipe off the p-trap and cut it. I installed the base, dropped in the rubber gasket, and screwed down the compression nut from the top. I made sure the base was tight against the floor edge and screwed down the base with stainless steel screws.
Now it was time to work on the water lines.
