Is a flex pipe okay for a shower drain in the P trap?

[gerrg]

We had a contractor do our shower recently, and after several issues we're questionining more and more all the things where "this this is fine don't worry about it" essentially. One of these things is on the shower drain. The drain needed to be moved over about 1.5 ft or so. To do that, some concreat needed to be knocked out to get access to the pipe, which makes sense, but then when everything was being connected up there was some rubber flex pipe used in the P trap section. I'm not sure if it was a 90 degree section or if it was a larger curve (i've attached an example image of generally what i remembered it looking like) , but either way, this black rubber type of material was used to connect the PCV pipe in the P trap.

Is that okay to use? I feel like it's not ideal for sure, but i'm not sure if it's actually going to be a problem or not. Thanks for any advice

 

[MicEd69]

Is the rubber fitting now encased in concrete? Or are you just not able to take a picture of the actual installation?

If it is encased in concrete, that could be a problem. If it isn't and if it is accessible, it probably "is fine don't worry about it", but it isn't per code. It's something that a good plumber wouldn't do unless there is some condition that precludes "normal" hard plumbing and that wouldn't be inspected.

 

[CT18]

Those are not allowed at all on sanitary in my area. I would not feel comfortable if that was used. Is it buried in concrete. I believe they are only allowed on vent piping, i think. Might not even be allowed on vents

 

[gerrg]

The shower is complete, though there have been have been a few things that i've become aware of that make me consider having the job redone (durock was used for the tile backer board in the shower, but it wasn't sealed just tile straight to the durock. Niches are similarly not sealed. The shower curb was angled outwards so water would drip outside the shower from the curb instead of inside. The curb was fixed, but the tile work looks pretty crappy on the repair (tiles cut by hand and not straight, as well as a couple other issues), so the repair is going to be redone by another team. So as i'm doing more research things keep popping up that are concerning.

if the durock not being sealed is an issue, then the tile walls need to be redone, if they need to be redone then I'd rather fix the flex pipe to something proper. if the flex pipe is an issue, then I feel like the entire shower liner whould need to be redone, and if that's the case, then the bottom couple feet of the shower would need to be redone (assuming they can't some home patch the shower liner... which i don't feel would be a great solution on a brand new shower). if the bottom 2 ft need re done, might as well redo all the durock and seal it as well...

So to answer your question, i believe it's encased in concrete, or at least there is concreat above it and it's not readily accesible. I just don't know how big of a problem this will be. I wouldn't trust a snake to be put through there, and since it's a shower drain, i feel like that's a high likely hood at some point down the road. The flex pipe was done by the tile guy, which is weird to me since they had a plumber come in and hook up the water for the shower valves and such.

it's off topic, but here's the shower half-ish way done with the durock bare (the seames were sealed with something, maybe thin set?)

 

[MicEd69]

WOW! That's an awfully nice shower to have been done with such poor workmanship.

You are absolutely correct that a snake will destroy that rubber fitting. It is against code and definitely needs to be replaced. But to do that, based on your descriotion, the shower base would need to be cut as there is no access below the shower. I assume your shower is on the first floor on a slab on grade home or in the basement. I also assume this work was not inspected and/or a permit was not taken out or wasn't required.

I think you have a potentially big problem, and I wouldn't like a patched shower base in a new shower.

 

[gerrg]

it was done by a general contractor (i guess that's what you'd call them). It's a friends buisness who does flooring and remodel stuff. From there it was just a main guy who did all the tile stuff and did all the sub contracting. If there were permits, I didn't know about them, and it wasn't inspected by anyone but the main guy working on the shower. I had to point out several small things throughout the job (holes in grout, things not being level, etc. a good 10-20 small items though could be caught with a 1 minute quick look over of things). Everythings on the first floor, and no basement, so yeah, no access.

Thanks for feedback! I'm pretty handy and usually do any work around the house myself, but when i do, i research things before hand. Since this was done "professionally", I didn't do research, just asked questions along the way. If the guy who's job is remoleling bathrooms gives tells me something is good, I should be able to trust that... but I don't think that's the case here.

 

[nebojsa]

Sounds like he is more of a handyman vs contractor. A lot of red flags here. On the side note, i would NEVER put tile directly on the cement board without waterproofing properly, then apply tile.

 

[Ludington]

Sounds like he is more of a handyman vs contractor. A lot of red flags here. On the side note, i would NEVER put tile directly on the cement board without waterproofing properly, then apply tile.

Just out of curiosity, what would you use to seal with ? I've see tile on greenboard (which I thought was crazy ) what would be the proper way to do tile to ensure no leaks / mold ?

 

[Twowaxhack]

I’d be more worried about the pan and the walls not being properly waterproofed. But the rubber 90 isn’t proper either.

 

[Joe-H]

That is a mess.

Tile on the durock is no problem IF there is a water barrier behind it. Millions of showers were built that way with tar paper behind the rock with no problem.

That niche is what ? Do you have some more pictures of what they did there, from that picture I have no idea what the plan is. And that bench sitting on the liner is a poor idea, possible damage to vinyl.

Just looking at the 1 picture I have no idea what they are doing but that niche should have been a finished waterproof box before that tile went on, no doubt it will leak no matter what they did next. The drywall on the wall behind will be wet shortly. Does the shower drain properly ? Can't imagine the hack that did this knows how to build a shower pan so probably not.

From the picture I can see they didn't follow the directions for securing the durock, looks like some screws at the edge and 1 or 2 in the field, that's another problem waiting to fail. And the rock should be held up off the pan a bit , read the directions dummy.

Clearly whoever did this had absolutely no idea of what they were doing or were supposed to be doing.

There no fixing that mess, tear it out and hire a pro.

And it's "concrete".

Joe H

 

[nebojsa]

I have mostly used Schluter waterproof membrane. Durock will absorb water over time that is why i seal it with ether RED GUARD or AQUA DEFENSE then apply tile.. All the seams need to be sealed also.

Schluter membrane installed properly and once it dries, the shower is ready to be used even if no tiles are on.
Tile is just a another layer of protection. If the grout fails water can get behind the tile but the membrane will protect the wall . Same with Red Guard, Aqua Defense.