The short answer
Almost every slow shower drain in a Northern Virginia home is hair, caught with soap scum in the first few inches under the drain cover. Get the cover off, pull the hair out with a plastic drain tool or needle-nose pliers, and run hot water for a couple of minutes. That fixes most of them in ten minutes. If it’s still slow after that, or water comes up in the shower when the toilet flushes or the washer drains, the clog is further down, and that’s when to stop.
Get the cover off
- A grate with screws: one screw in the middle or two at the edges. A screwdriver and it lifts out.
- A snap-in grate: pry one edge up with a flat screwdriver.
- A twist-off cover: turn it counterclockwise. Needle-nose pliers in the slots help if it’s tight.
- A tub stopper: lift-and-turn and toe-touch stoppers unscrew counterclockwise. A push-pull one unscrews by its knob.
- A tub with a lever on the overflow plate: the stopper is inside. Take out the two screws on the plate and pull the whole linkage up and out. Hair wraps around it.
$99 Drain Clearing
This offer focuses on clearing a blockage up to the P-trap, the curved section of drainpipe beneath the sink where debris can collect. See the drain clearing
Pull the hair
A plastic drain tool, the long barbed strip they sell at every hardware store, is made for this. Push it down, twist, and pull it up slowly. A wire coat hanger with a small hook bent into the end works too, and needle-nose pliers get what you can see. Wear gloves. What comes up is gray, slimy and longer than you’d think, and it’s normal.
Then run hot tap water for two or three minutes to carry off the loose soap scum. Hot tap water, not boiling: boiling water is hard on plastic drain pipe and the glued joints in it.
If it’s still slow
Try a cup plunger next. Wet the rubber, cover the drain, and push and pull a dozen times. On a tub, hold a wet rag tight over the overflow first, or the push goes out the overflow instead of down the drain.
Still slow, and a hand snake is the next tool. The shower’s trap sits right under the drain, under the floor, so unlike a sink trap you can’t take it apart. You go through the drain opening: feed the cable in, crank clockwise, and pull back what it catches. How to use a drain snake walks through it.
What not to pour in
Hair takes a lot of chemical to dissolve, more than a drain cleaner can do in one pour, so most of the bottle ends up sitting in the trap under your feet and on the shower floor. If it doesn’t clear, it’s still there when you or a plumber start working on it. Is Drano bad for your pipes? goes into that.
When it’s past the shower
Stop and call when you see any of these:
- Water comes up in the shower or tub when you flush a toilet or the washer drains.
- The shower gurgles while another fixture drains.
- A basement shower is slow and the floor drain nearby has water around it.
- The snake goes in a few feet and hits something that won’t give.
- The drain clears and is slow again in a week.
The first three are the line the shower shares with the rest of the house, usually the main line to the street. A basement shower is often the lowest drain in the house, so it shows a main line clog first. One drain or the main line has the full list.
Keep it from coming back
- A hair catcher over the drain. The cheap ones work.
- Clean the cover or the catcher once a week, before it builds.
- Brush long hair before a shower. Most of what clogs a drain comes out in the first rinse.
- Pull the tub stopper and clean it every few months.
If the drain’s fine but the shower itself drips, the valve won’t shut off, or the water won’t get hot, that’s shower repair, not a clog.
When you’d rather we do it
A sink clogged at the trap is $99 with our sink clearing offer, up to the P-trap. A toilet, tub, shower or any drain past the trap is drain cleaning, $200 to $800. The main line to the street runs $550 to $1,650, and when grease or roots keep coming back, hydro jetting clears the pipe wall. You get the price before we start. A plumbing diagnosis visit is $49, or $250 after hours.
Call (703) 997-9757, day or night, or see every current deal on our offers page. Rated 5.0 stars across 1,138 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook, Virginia Class A license 2705192276.
Questions people ask
What dissolves hair in a shower drain?
Nothing you’d want sitting in your pipe. Products strong enough to dissolve hair work slowly on a full clog. Pulling the hair out is faster and safer.
How do you get the cover off a shower drain?
Most are held by one or two screws, or snap in and pry up with a flat screwdriver. Some twist out counterclockwise.
Why is my shower still draining slowly after I pulled the hair?
Hair further down than a tool reaches, or the main line. If the tub gurgles when the toilet flushes, it’s the line, not the shower.
Can I use a plunger on a shower drain?
Yes, a flat cup plunger. Wet the cup and cover the drain. On a tub, hold a wet rag over the overflow so the push goes down the drain.
Why does water come up in my shower when I flush?
The shower and the toilet share the line out of the house, and it’s blocked past where they join. Stop using water and call. It’s usually the main line.
