How to Install Shower Drain Without Access Below?

The shower drains are the connection between your bathroom and the sewerage line of your area. It is the getaway line for your bathroom’s water and plays an integral part in the whole sewerage system. A proper installation of the shower drain is necessary to maintain a clear water extraction line from the bathroom. 

There are some different ways of installing this shower drain. Many users install it from the below part using an “elbow pipe.” But installing the shower drain from below may look complicated or impossible sometimes. That is the reason why you should learn the way of how to install a shower drain without access below.  

Table of Contents

• How to Install Shower Drain Without Access Below?
  • Method 01: How to Install a Compression-Style Shower Drain
  • Method 02: How to Install a Solvent-Glued Shower Drain
  • Method 03: How to Install a Tile Shower Drain
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Final Words

How to Install Shower Drain Without Access Below?

 There are some different ways of installing the shower drain without accessing it from below. I will discuss the 3 most straightforward and most common methods of doing this job.

Read below intently.

Method 01: How to Install a Compression-Style Shower Drain

Here is the step-by-step process for installing a compression-style shower drain from the upper side of the bathroom. 

Materials That You Need:

⦁ Screwdriver.
⦁ Silicone caulk.
⦁ Tail-piece.

Step-1: Waste-pipe trim

The first step of installing the compression-style shower drain is to cut the waste pipe in a way that it remains ¾ -1 inch below the surface area.

Step-2: Tail-piece inserting 

Secondly, you need to insert the tail-piece at the mouth of the waste taking drain. The cardboard friction ring needs to be installed at the drain tail along with the large rubber washer. You will have to put the silicone caulk in there to make the connection between all of these parts.  

Step-3: Proper Shower-body placement with Gasket-fitting 

Third, the compression gasket, also known as the friction gasket, needs to be put inside the shower body. You will have to place the shower body with the drain tail and make their joint place attached using the silicone caulk again.  

Step-4: Ensuring snug fitting 

The most important part of the Compression-Style Shower Drain is to make sure the compression gasket’s snug-fitting. You will need a screwdriver to properly tighten up the nuts and bolts for the whole installation process. 

Step-5: Precaution and time for dry-up the joint 

You need to be careful at the time of tightening up the joints because over-tightening may strip the screws. As you will use the silicone caulk for all the joints, you will have to give them time to dry up. Once the silicone caulk is dried, the shower drain will be ready for use.

Check our latest guide about: how to fix a stripped shower faucet handle.

Method 02: How to Install a Solvent-Glued Shower Drain

The entire process of installing a Solvent-Glued Shower Drain in your bathroom is given below. 

Materials That You Need:

⦁ Screwdriver. Here’s a link to cheap and great options over at Amazon (from $14-20).
⦁ Silicone caulk. Grab this one here of Amazon.com
⦁ Hacksaw. Here is the list of the LENOX Tools High-Tension Hacksaw (Best Hacksaws).
⦁ Measuring tape. Most of the people like this product.
⦁ Toilet cleaning brush.
⦁ Cement. Check out this product.

Step-1: Preparing the below pipe  

The elbow pipe will be under the place where you will be installing the shower drain, and it is solvent-glued type. At first, you have to adjust that elbow pipe according to the surface by trimming it as it remains ¾ -1 inch under the floor. 

Step-2: Drain Tail Adjustment 

You will see a small drain attached to the shower body, which you will have to connect with the elbow pipe. First, you have to measure out how much gap is between the elbow pipe and the drain tail. The tail needs to get into the elbow-pipe fitting snugly. 

Step-3: Drain Tail installation with Glue 

After that, brush the shower drain box’s glue to the elbow pipe’s inner part and the outer part of the drain tail. Then you will have to twirl the drain-tail that it gets into the elbow pipe. The glue will take a bit of time to join the drain tail and the elbow pipe. 

Step-4: Installing the Shower drain 

When the glue will stick, and the elbow pipe and the drain-tail will be joined together, you will have to install the shower drain body. Put the drain-body over the drain-tail, and then twirl it again to get joined with the drain-tail. You have to use cement to make sure that the tail and body are joined together. 

Step-5: Take off the Cover from the Shower-mouth 

After a while, all the parts will get attached due to the glue and cement combination. Then take off the cover from the shower-mouth, and you will be all set to go.

Method 03: How to Install a Tile Shower Drain

You will get to know about how to install a shower drain for tile from below.

Materials That You Need:

⦁ Screwdriver.
⦁ Hacksaw.
⦁ Cement or glue.

Step-1: Preparation of the elbow-pipe

The first thing that you need to find a lower place for installing the shower drain. This sloppy area of your bathroom needs installing a waterproof membrane liner, which will be between the flanges. It would be best if you cut the elbow pipe to a level of ¼ inch below the surface. 

Step-2: Bottom and Middle Flange installation

Both the bottom and middle flanges need to be installed correctly for the Tile Shower Drain’s whole installation process. These flanges should be in the way of sandwiches as the liner will be in the middle portion. The leakage check in the liner part should be done after the bottom and middle flange installation. 

Step-3: Strainer installation

You will have to install the metal strainer after the bottom and middle flange installation. The metal strainer needs to be put on the drain tail that will be connected with the sewerage line. 

All the screws, nuts, and bolts should be tightened to keep the joints fit and snug for a long time. Without tiling, this metal strainer will be a bit higher than the surface.  

Step-4: Tiling part

Then you will have to start the tiling process after the strainer installation. After the floor construction with tiles, it will become higher, and the strain part will be lower than the new tiled surface. 

So, water will go down the line with the help of gravity. Thus, installing a shower with no access to the bottom will be done through the Tile Shower Drain. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you hook up a shower drain to an existing drain?

You can do this by using a plastic pipe, and that pipe you will choose needs to have the same diameter as the older drain pipe. You will have to cut the selected pipe into 2 separate pieces, which should have the same length.  

Then connect both these parts of pipes with the sewerage line and the drain-tail, and then connect two parts of the pipe with cement or glue. 

Can I use the existing toilet drain for a shower? 

You will have to re-shape the toilet drain if you are making changes and re-modeling processes in your bathroom. All you have to do is change the older toilet drain to a new shower drain, and you can use it without any hassle.

Here is a nice video on how to hook up a shower drain.

Final Words

The shower drain installation with the professionals will require a handsome amount of money for you. But if you learn the way of installation, you can do the whole process without dealing with money-cost and hassle. You don’t have to call any experts anymore for this simple task of your bathroom. 

Installing the shower drain from the upper part is much easier than doing it from the below part attached with the sewerage. When you learn how to install a shower drain without access below, you will be able to do it from the upper part without dealing with much difficulty.

Good luck with nice steps on how to install shower drain flange.