EDIT: I self-answered a question below and have a follow-up. I'll definitely be putting new concrete in. I was able to easily break up the bed around the pipe with a hammer. I measured the pipe with the Kerdi drain and marked with the solid red line where I'd need to cut on the pipe to place the drain 3/4" above the slab for the mud.
I need to remove that 45° transition piece and replace it with just a 2" PVC pipe for the drain to fit onto as Kerdi's connector is the female end. Do I need to keep digging down and cut lower into the pipe that's coming up at a 45°? Or can you cut something higher that's useable?
OLD INFO: I just dry fit a Kerdi drain for our shower we're about to do a mud pack for and ran into a couple of issues. Here's a video showing our drain: https://youtu.be/0ZVZTo4bedY
- The PVC pipe is too high.
- The filler they used around the plumbing is weak and porous.
For number one, with the Kerdi drain installed we are at 3 & 3/8th inches above the slab, which is way too high for a mortar bed. If I cut the pipe with enough room for the drain to rest on the knuckle, we're still about 1 & 1/4 inch above the slab.
We don't want a large curb, and so we really want to get the drain down to the 3/4 inch requirement. I assume we'd need to remove the shorter 45° knuckle and replace it with a similar piece that has a male instead female end so we could fit the Kerdi drain. Best method there to dig it out and just chop off the knuckle? Or would it be better off to just build the mortar bed an extra 1/2 inch up?
My second question relates to the quality/condition of the current filler they used. You can see a very visible cracking line and hollow 'thumping' sound as I tap around the edges of the drain. You can also see the chunks of rock I was able to knock out that were around the drain using a small chisel. I could easily break up the current filler with a hammer with no issue at all. With a mud pan, would it be advisable to remove all of this any way and refill it with concrete with a new PVC joint? Just want to make sure I do this once and do it right. Thanks!
