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Our tub drain is severely plugged. Cannot get a snake down into it. Our crawlspace is only about 18" tall (WHY?!?), and due to both the confined space and the angle we cannot leverage the wrench in position to loosen the clean-out plug. In addition, the clean-out plug is VERY tight. What is the ideal tool for flexibility, strength and leverage in this confined situation?

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    What is the plug made out of? PVC? Brass?
    – longneck
    Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 15:49
  • The plug (underneath the house) is cast-iron.
    – RET
    Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 0:39

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If you haven't already, the cross-hatched drain cover in the tub can be removed with this wrench, called a bath tub drain wrench (or similar): enter image description here

There should only be plumbers putty underneath it, so it will be hard to turn at first, but then quickly becomes quite easy.

Once that is out of the way, running a small drain snake down the drain is comparatively easy. There is probably no need for you to go under the floor.

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  • You can also use a pair of pump pliers and a screw driver. Put the ends of the pump plier's handles into the drain and use a screw driver placed perpendicular to the pliers between the handles as leverage to turn.
    – pdd
    Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 18:24
  • We need about 2'- 3' to get the leverage we need to get enough torque to remove the plug, and the crawlspace is only about 18" tall, not allowing for it.
    – RET
    Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 0:45
  • @RET: I am not sure what you mean. The drain cover is removed from inside the bathtub, not underneath it.
    – wallyk
    Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 1:07
  • I am referring to the clean-out plug/trap in the crawlspace. (Perhaps I am using the wrong terminology). We want to disassemble the pipe so we can clean it out or replace it, but the crawlspace is too shallow to employ the necessary angle with the heavy-duty wrench (the pipe is also extremely tight). We need a tool that can fit into small spaces and difficult angles, while providing a lot of strength to assist us in loosening the pipe.
    – RET
    Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 5:19
  • @RET: Maybe you could post a photo. Probably you don't need to be under the floor at all.
    – wallyk
    Commented Mar 11, 2014 at 15:11

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