Hello all,

Years ago, five, maybe seven, I turned a closet into a bathroom. I hired a plumber to do the rough plumbing, then another pro to do the tar shower pan. There is a sloping floor, then tar, then a mortar bed, then thinset and finally tile. Since I did not know how to tile around rough drains and shower fixtures, I tiled all of the walls except for the floor and the fixture wall. I hired tilers to finish it for me. When I got home from work, it was a catastrophe.

Stone tiles were laid scored-side up, spacers were not used so grout lines are over a 1/4 inch on one side and butted together on the other, the openings for the fixtures and drains were not right and the fixtures would not go on- you get the picture. Furthermore, the wrong tile was used in one area and it is not rated for use with water. That night I cried and stayed up all night chipping off the worst mistakes. Tile guy is gone.

It has been sitting, ungrouted, for at least five years. I finally got the energy to survey the damage and to attempt to put it together. I drilled out the tiles that covered the shower fixture holes and got that wall in shape. Now I have come to the drain and the floor.

(I work two jobs part-time to support my family, so no cash or time for a full demo.)

Two problems:

1) the drain is not high enough and it is in crooked (top of rim is not level, and it is between 1/2" and 1/4" lower than top of tile). I just chiseled out all of the thinset that was poured over the edges of the drain and exposed the metal rim, and I looked inside, and the rubber inside is pulled away from the blue sleeve (see photo). Can I buy something that will extend the drain (that does not require screws, since this is a pop-in drain cover)? Is it okay that the rubber is pulled out like that? Do I have to fix it?

Inside of drain, rubber peeled away.

Where the screwdriver is:

{{gwi:2033110}}

Close up of rubber peeled back:

{{gwi:2033113}}

Ugly cutting job around drain:

{{gwi:2033115}}

Drain is not level and is too low:

{{gwi:2033116}}

2) There is a floor tile that sounds hollow. Should I chisel it out and put in a new tile? I do not have any of the original tile, so a new one will not match. It was on sale, it's green slate, I'm sunk. Is it better to have a mismatched slate tile that doesn't sound hollow?

{{gwi:2033118}}

Another view of ugly cutting job around drain:

{{gwi:2033120}}

Thank you for your help. I looked at drain extenders, but they require a place for screw holes, and my drain does not have screw holes. Should I just chisel out a round area and slope the grout to the drain? It will look a bit goofy.

Renee