Chosen Solution
I feel silly asking this question. I feel like this should be common knowledge. I was instructed by the plumber about six months ago on how to remove the plug when he installed it. Yet, despite my best efforts, I cannot unscrew this thing. And I need to gain access to the drain so I can perform some maintenance on it. The plug is attached by a screw to the shower tub drain. Right now it spins in its place freely, allowing the plug to be either up (allow water to pass through) or down (plug drain to fill up the tub). I tried: Unscrewing in the up position, both counter-clockwise and clockwise; no dice. Unscrewing in the down position, in both directions. Would not budge an inch, since there’s a tab that inserts itself into the drain cross-hatch (looks like an “X” when viewed from above) that prevents the plug from turning. Propping the drain plug upwards with my finger and turning it both directions (like you would do to a screw that spins in its place in a wall). Placing the plug in a half-up, half-down position, and turning it at that position in both directions. “Whipping” the plug in both directions (like you would a spinning top or dreidel) to see if it will unscrew. All of my efforts proved fruitless. Am I doing something incorrectly? Is the plug just stuck in its threads?
Besides the exc4ellent answer that mayer is providing ;-) you could check on here it covers all different types of drains. This here is a good example of how it might be attached….
Your plumber, since he sold this thing, will probably be happy to anwser your question at no charge. Call him. A woman would have called days ago, but they ask for directions too ;-)
WOW! I’ll bet it was a blast being the offspring and/or the sibling of ANYONE WHO (DIDNT) ANSWER her question. I bet you had lots of fun times growing up. If I happened to be the lady who asked the question, I would have asked each one of the stick in the mud jerks how they became such judgemental @%^!*. I really can’t believe all these people that answered this lady’s question turned this into such an issue. “Rental agreement”, “Lawsuit”, and the absolute jerk of the decade “I hope your office at iFixit has a daybed”.. You jerks have no idea why this lady is trying to get into the drain, maybe the necklace her mom gave her the Christmas before she passed away accidently went down there. Not everyone has the money the outrageous “come to your house and fix it” companies charge, I certainly can empathize with the financial end of that. You act as if she is going to hold you personally liable if something goes wrong by removing the drain plug, like the ass who said something about flooding the whole complex. By removing a drain plug? She could flood the neighborhood? You, sir are an idiot. Robots and sheep. Robots and sheep
It’s easy to remove but last time I faced huge problem while removing the plug from my shower pan. It was jammed and I tried for 10 min. But I can’t open it. After that my plumber remove it. So, my suggestion is if you can’t handle it simply leave it to your plumber.
