Keep your drain sharp

Sometimes weird things happen in showers and stuff breaks.

One of the most common things to get broken is the little piece in the drain that stops the water from going down.

When this happens the best course of action is to replace the entire drain. It's fairly simple, just a little bit of time.

To accomplish this you'll need a couple of very specific things:

• A drain wrench. There are several options: this, this or this

• The fist two are self explanatory, the wrench goes around the metal cross pieces inside the drain
• The third one expands when turn to tighten on the inside the drain on the walls and uses the pressure to turn it.   

• Plumber's putty
• Thread sealant 
• A tub or shower drain

First you will want to remove the old drain, if it's a tub drain all of those types of drain wrenches will work. If it's a shower drain, it likely won't have something in the bottom for them to grab onto, so you have to use the third type of wrench.

To use that one, you'll have to initially put some pressure on the top most rungs when you first put it in the drain so that the piece in side will start to expand, and once it grips, keep pressure on it, and turn until the drain is removed.

Then you take your plumbers putty, and make a small ball the size of a nickel out of it. From that ball roll a long snake-like piece out of it. It basically has the consistency of fresh Play-Doh so just imagine you're 5 years old again. Once you have that, set it to the side.

Before you continue, if there is a rubber washer around the drain that you bought, take it off. The plumbers putty replaces the stopper and works better.

Next for the drain and your thread sealant. There is a small brush on the inside of the cap, take that and rub it around the threads of the drain. The brush resembles a small cotton ball and absorbs quite a bit, so make sure its not dripping when you pull it out of the can or you'll get it everywhere.

Now take the drain with the sealant on it and screw it about three-quarters of the way in. Once you do this, take the piece of plumbers putty and set it underneath where the lip of the drain is going to meet the tub. Then continue screwing the drain in. Normally once you tighten it down the putty will squish out from the sides. This is fine, just cut off the excess.

When you tighten it down, tighten it down solid, but don't over tighten.

Now that you have your drain in one of the most parts is here. DON'T RUN ANY WATER THROUGH IT. For overnight or about a day. Something like that so everything has a chance to set.

From there the drain is set. If it is a pop up drain, screw in the screw without the stopper, and then the stopper goes on top. Most of the time the stopper screws on the opposite way, so take not of that.

ALSO- While your drain is removed, take drain cleaner or some sort of drain snake, and use it to clean out the pipes, it'll be more convenient when the drain is out.