When the Tile Guy Sealed My Only Access, I Learned Why a Stopped-Up Shower Drain Needs Fixing Before the Walls Close The Schluter-Kerdi went up on Tuesday. By Friday the glass was measured. Monday morning the plumber’s apprentice sheepishly admitted the 2-in. line he’d roughed-in was packed with hardened thin-set. I’d already paid $1,850 for … Read more
A common misconception is that if a design looks good on social media, it will work in your specific home. Often, the opposite is true because what’s trending—like minimalist tile-in linear drains with no visible grates—can trap hair and soap scum, creating the perfect breeding ground for Pseudomonas and E. coli. I’ve seen sleek Italian … Read more
A client called me last week, their voice full of regret, after trying to follow a tutorial they found online. They’d poured bleach down their shower drain, thought the smell was gone, and re-tiled the whole floor—only to wake up two days later to the same sulfurous stench, now worse. The problem wasn’t the surface—it … Read more
Here’s the thing—plumbing code gives you a minimum, but minimum and optimal are two different animals. After 12 years and 1,200+ inspections, I’ve learned that shower drain pipe size dictates everything from hair-clog frequency to whether your basement ceiling ends up raining. Get it wrong and you’re not just snaking drains; you’re cutting drywall, chasing … Read more
A client called me last week, their voice full of regret, after trying to follow a tutorial they found online about how to install shower drain systems. They’d sealed the PVC trap but ignored slope specifications—now water pooled around their feet every time they showered. The subfloor began softening within three weeks. This isn’t just … Read more
At 2 AM on a Tuesday, my phone rang. It was a panicked homeowner, and I could hear the water rushing in the background. We were their last hope. The new “modern” curbless shower—installed by a well-meaning contractor—was flooding the hallway. Tile was buckling. The subfloor was spongy. They’d skipped the external drain, thinking “less … Read more
I’ve inspected over 1,200 shower drains in homes ranging from 1920s bungalows to modern prefab builds. As a Master Electrician and licensed plumber with 15+ years specializing in residential retrofits and waterproofing systems, I’ve seen everything from DIYers pouring bleach down a Kohler K-9449 linear drain (which corrodes the stainless steel) to contractors skipping the … Read more
The smell wasn’t from the trap at all—it was microbial activity thriving in warm, damp plywood beneath a Schluter Kerdi membrane that had been improperly sealed. Once we replaced the substrate and installed a new linear shower drain with a proper 2% slope, the odor vanished. This case taught me that surface-level fixes rarely solve … Read more
Storytelling Hook The first time I cracked open a 1998 acrylic shower base, I found a rusted-out brass ring and three inches of black sludge where the drain should have been. The homeowner had lived with a slow drain for six years because no one wanted to cut the ceiling below. That moment—when the subfloor … Read more
We’ve tracked the data, and the systems we installed a decade ago are still performing 22% more efficiently than the industry average. That’s not an accident; it’s our method. Clogged shower drain pipes don’t just slow water flow—they compromise the entire bathroom ecosystem. I’ve seen Schluter Kerdi-Drain installations fail in three years because homeowners ignored … Read more