A shower normally comes with a p-trap, which is designed to prevent gases that accumulate within your drainage system from entering via your shower drain hole. The p-trap is designed like a u-shaped segment of pipe that works just like a barrier in order to retain water and at the same time block gases from entering your bathroom area. For those of you who have a little bit of plumbing experience, you can easily install a p-trap on your own. The p-trap is normally located on the second floor of your house and in order to have access to it, you need to go through the ceiling of your first floor just beneath the shower.
To install a shower p-trap on the second floor, you need:
- Drywall saw
- Crowbar
- Piping saw
Installing Shower P-Trap on the Second Floor
Tips for Installing a Shower P-Trap on the Second Floor
- First thing that you need do is to find the way to access your shower p-trap.
- This can be done by removing the ceiling panels beneath the shower located on the first floor below the bathroom.
- For house owner who have drywall ceilings, you need to cut the ceiling’s drywall by using a drywall saw.
- Once you have finished the above task, you need to remove your drywall situated beneath your shower using a crowbar.
- This can be done by removing the ceiling panels beneath the shower located on the first floor below the bathroom.
The task of installing a shower P-trap on your second floor really needs the expertise o professional assistance from professional technical help.
- The next thing to do is to lay the inlet end of your shower trap, the one that has a long straight part, right into your shower drain. Meanwhile, the other end must be hold up at the home’s drain line.
- The location of your p-trap intersects with the drain line should be marked.
- You need to cut the drain right on the mark by using a piping saw.
- The end result should show you that it ends up being a foot of your shower drain hole.
- Therefore, you would be able to survive where the above step allows you to have enough room so that you can install any type of p-trap.
- The location of your p-trap intersects with the drain line should be marked.
- Then, you have to attach an elbow joint to the end of your drain line where you only need to cut it before positioning the joint so that its open section will be facing down.
- At this stage, you do not have to glue the fitting in place.
- At this stage, you do not have to glue the fitting in place.
- Once you have finished doing the above step, you can proceed by connecting the outlet end which is the shorter part of your p-trap to the elbow joint.
- Then, you have to push the inlet part of your p-trap up and going through the shower drain hole.
- Make sure to leave at least three inches of extra pipe right above your shower drain.
- Then, you have to push the inlet part of your p-trap up and going through the shower drain hole.
- The elbow joint from the drain pipe and p-trap must be removed once you have managed to fit in the p-trap properly.
- Make sure that you cover the edges by using PVC glue before re-installing the elbow.
- You can also coat the end of your p-trap along with the other end of your elbow joint with the PVC glue.
- After that, you have to connect both of the sections and allow them to dry for at least eight hours.
- Make sure that you cover the edges by using PVC glue before re-installing the elbow.
- The inlet end of the p-trap need to be pushed upward right into your shower drain hole.
- Then, you have to lay a compression gasket over the p-trap pipe right above your shower drain from the inside area of the shower.
- Next, you need to pound the pipe along with the gasket right back into the drain using a mallet in order to create a seal in between the drain and the p-trap.
- Then, you have to lay a compression gasket over the p-trap pipe right above your shower drain from the inside area of the shower.
- Finally, you have to change your ceiling panels.
- Or you can also measure your ceiling hole by using a tape measure before cutting a new drywall panel following the exact measurement.
- This is to cover up the hole in your ceiling beneath the p-trap.
- The new panel needs to be mounted onto the ceiling joists before securing it with drywall screws.
- After that, you have to tape the seams by using fiberglass tape before you can start applying joint compound by using a scraper.
- You must leave the compound to dry before you can proceed to prime the panel using drywall primer and also a roller.
- In addition, you can paint them by using an interior paint together with your roller.
Always remember that whenever you want to install a shower p-trap on the second floor of your house,
- You need to determine whether the replacement of the p-trap is really necessary or not. If you start to smell some bad odor coming from the drain and suspect that the odor is caused by your p-trap, make sure that you double check the actual situation by refilling the trap using half gallon of water.
- For shower which is unused for several of weeks, you will notice that the water inside the p-trap will dry thus it will effectively remove any of the odor and gas barrier.
- By refilling your p-trap using the above technique, you would be able to restore the odor barrier for good.
- In order to access a p-trap in concrete floor, you need to remove your concrete using a jack hammer. In addition, you should also remove the concrete by using a jack hammer plus also removal of gravel fill.
- Or you can also measure your ceiling hole by using a tape measure before cutting a new drywall panel following the exact measurement.
