shower leak on floor

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paulmars

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Any ideas what i can do to fix this without tearing out the shower?

shower drain never backs up, but pipe below it does leak below shower floor and only when taking shower. See pics.

The drain must be leaking. It gets wet inside that wall and with long showers, it leaks out onto the finished floor.

Pic 2 is the lower part of that wall you see in the other pic (red box). With that blue plastic wall cover removed.

wet with every shower where the yellow X is and then gets wet where the black X is with longer showers. shower drain is just a few inches higher and never backs up.

This shower was installed over 10 years ago and this issue just started happening in the last 8 months. Started shortly after i had the outside sewer line replaced and tenant moved in at same time. maybe coincidence. Maybe previous tenants never took long showers.

The other day we did run a snake down the shower drain at least 10 feet. that is well into the new sewer line that was replaced about 8 months ago. Its still getting wet as mentioned above after snakeing.
 

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A more panoramic photo and, another showing the inside of the shower would help.
 
The shower looks like a two piece affair. The pan and a three sided wall structure. Could there be water leaking out of the seam between the pan and the walls? Have you tried running the shower to see if you can see where the water is coming from?
 
only leaks when human body is then there. (weight on floor)

after i remove the foam (and find and fix the leak), how about cutting some blocks to fit below the pan and using block caulking to hold in place?
 
The foam is there to keep the fiberglass pan from flexing. I've seen mortar or concrete used to accomplish the same thing. It sounds like something is flexing and allowing a leak that doesn't appear if you just run water into the shower without someone standing on the shower floor.
 
with grate removed
 

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It looks like the drain is assembly is the type that has a rubber gasket that grips the pipe going to the sewer system. The collar inside the drain assembly which has the notches in it is designed to be tightened causing the rubber gasket to be forced in against the drain pipe to make the seal. I have never seen one of those not leak as they get older and the rubber ages and becomes less pliable. I have seen them caulked, but that is usually a temporary fix before they leak again. It looks to me like the pipe coming into the drain is new. If the pipe was replaced the seal was disturbed that will be your leak. You might try unscrewing the notched plate, getting a new gasket, and tightening everything up to see if you can get it to hold before tearing everything out. If you tear it out to replace it use a glue type drain when you put it back together again.
 
What is the rubber gasket called? What about using underwater rated caulking? Any other options that don't require removal of shower pan?

Everything there is 10 years old.
 
but it looks like the drain pipe is below the lower edge of the keyed drain assembly.
 
I have never tried to buy the rubber gasket individually. I normally just replace the entire drain assembly. If you have access under the shower you might be able to do that. Probably easier to buy a new drain assembly, remove the gasket from the new one and replace the old gasket. That gasket should be at least an inch long. You are just seeing the the top edge of it in the picture. The drain assemblies are not very expensive. The new ones come with the flat plate that you are supposed to use to tighten the collar down. Even simpler idea I guess would be to try tightening the the collar on the one you have to see if it would quit leaking. Probably a long shot but you never know. When I get involved I need to get in, fix it and be gone. You may have more flexibility.
You can try calking, but I usually find that has been tried and failed and that is why I am there. If you try it, make sure everything is dry and really clean before application.
Also, I went back and read post again. Have you placed your knee in the shower pan and looked for cracks to appear? Typically when these drains leak most of the water ends up leaking through the floor not under the shower pan. Typically, but not always.
 
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