# Is the secondary shower drain clogged? Disabled Vet



## rortiz38 (Mar 15, 2013)

My father is a disabled vet who had his bathroom remodeled through a VA grant. Unfortunately he had to use a contractor on their approved list(which i am not). Two years later his shower has started leaking on all sides and the contractor is out of business. A quick email to the contractor advised that the grout probably needed to be recaulked at the base of the walls. Here is what i have found. There are cracks along the entire base where the floor and wall meet(most are hairline). I know I can simply recaulk this but I am concerned that anytime this starts to fail i am going to have water on the wood floors on the adjacent hall and bedroom. I opened up the wall and found a small hole in the liner at one corner. I always fold and tuck my liners, they cut and glued and apparently missed a spot. Water is also leaking out of the drywall outside both corners of the ramp. My question is, How fast should water flow out the secondary drain when it penetrating the grout lines? Should it absorb, work its way down and drain? Or is this such a slow process that it will build and run along the walls until it overflows the corner of the ramps? The small hole is not in a position the i can get a patch to it so I loaded it with silicone and it appears to be holding. The alternative it cutting out the bottom of two studs to access it and get a proper patch. How can i test the secondary to make sure it is draining?
Thanks
Ricky


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## rortiz38 (Mar 15, 2013)

I pulled the top drain to see if I could find any clue of the weepholes being clogged. This is what it looked like after I busted off the cement covering the four small pair of holes in the drain. I do not see any signs of gravel here which leads me to believe they might not have put any down and clogged the holes when pouring concrete. Am I seeing this correctly? Any other thoughts?
Thanks


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 3, 2010)

Wow.... A lttle difficult to fully understand with out pictures but...

do you smell any moldy odors... by secondary drain I think you mean the liner on the sub base. That liner drain, if we can call it that... is ment solely as a very slow weep for moisture and mitigation of any mold issue for anything that permeates the grout (or the natural hairline between the wall/tile. I never heard of an actual flow rate or permeability measure for it, but it's not intended as a "primary" drainage system. (Technically, I suppose it's permeability is a function of the sand in the mortor mix.) Bottom line, you can't count on your liner drainage for any significant drainage and I think it's very likely that water is "puddling/collecting/leaking from your liner hole.

Furthermore, we have no idea if the preslope was sloped well. Not that it proves anything, but does the tile have a good slope (all the way around or do you have puddling).

Verse tearing out and a redo, I'd try what you are. Silicone/red guard the liner hole as best as you can and lay a good silicone caulk line around the perimeter. Seems it may direct flow from your corners... at very little cost/effort.

Seems also the caulk at the drain, if it was really packed in there, might have very well plugged the weep hole on the Otey drain. I don't know what good it would be doing there... I'd clean it out paying attention to getting it out the perimeter of the drain where it could be blocking the liner weep holes. As you say, it should have a ring of pebbles , not a sealent.

Just my best guess. I'm not a plumber... maybe had to do myself a dozen shower pans, and overseen a lot more. It's an awfully easy job to screw up, and problems don't show up immediately.

Good luck

Peter


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