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Johnson Bros. Plumbing & Drain Cleaning
Shower Drain Clogged?

Clogged Shower Drain? We'll Clear It Fast.

Showers and bathtubs. Licensed South Shore plumber. $99 dispatch and diagnosis fee — waived if you approve the repair. No tile damage.

We have cleared 101 tub and shower drain clogs across the South Shore, 40 of them in Quincy. Counted from our own completed work orders across 10 South Shore towns — not an estimate.

Standing in ankle-deep water by the end of your shower? Drain getting slower every week? We clear hair + soap buildup properly. Same-day availability when scheduling permits.

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MA Master Plumber Lic. PL #17034-M · Corp. #458124/7 emergency line4.8 stars · 418 Google reviews

What's Clogging Your Shower Drain

Hair mat at the P-trap

Hair catches on the strainer and builds a dense mat in the P-trap just below. This is 80%+ of shower clogs.

Shampoo + soap scum

Binds the hair mat together and coats the pipe walls. Over time it narrows the effective pipe diameter and slows everything down.

Foreign objects

Kids' bath toys, small accessories, bottle caps — anything small can slip past the strainer and wedge in the trap.

Branch drain issue

If the shower AND nearby sink slow at the same time, the shared branch drain is the problem, not the shower itself.

Clogged bathtub drain? Same visit, same plumber.

A tub clog and a shower clog are the same hair-and-soap-scum problem — our own job records do not even record them separately. What differs is the way in.

The overflow plate

On a tub, the drain and the overflow share a tee behind the wall. We take the overflow plate off and work the cable through it, which reaches buildup a plunger never will.

Pop-up and trip-lever stoppers

The linkage itself collects hair. Half of “clogged” tubs are a stopper assembly that needs cleaning and adjusting, not a blocked pipe — and we will tell you when that is all it was.

Standing water after a bath

Water that takes more than a couple of minutes to clear is buildup narrowing the pipe. It gets worse, never better, and it is cheaper to clear before it backs up.

Skip the chemical cleaner

Caustic drain cleaners rarely cut a hair mat, and they sit in the trap corroding it while you wait. They also make the job more dangerous for whoever opens the pipe next.

Standing Water In Your Shower?

Skip the chemical drain cleaner — it damages pipes and rarely works on hair. Call a licensed plumber.

Call (617) 479-9911 Now

Shower Drain Service — South Shore MA

Dispatched daily from our Quincy & Abington offices:

Quincy Abington Boston Braintree Weymouth Milton Randolph Hingham Brockton Rockland Cohasset Canton Hull Holbrook Sharon Whitman Scituate Hanover Plymouth Marshfield Stoughton Norwell Bridgewater Pembroke Hanson East Bridgewater Duxbury Avon West Bridgewater Kingston Halifax

Clogged Shower Drain — Common Questions

How much does clearing a clogged shower drain cost?
Our $99 to send a licensed technician out, not charged at all if you approve the repair. A typical shower drain clog (hair + soap buildup at the trap) is a quick job. Deeper blockages in the branch drain or stack are quoted before we continue — always upfront, never surprise.
Why does my shower drain keep clogging?
Hair is the dominant cause. Long hair wraps around the drain strainer and builds a mat in the P-trap below. Soap and shampoo scum bind the mat together. If we clear it and you see another clog in 6 months, a hair strainer over the drain saves you that visit.
Can standing water in my shower damage anything?
Yes — standing water can seep past the drain seal and rot the subfloor over time, damage the tile/grout, and in upper-floor showers drip down into ceilings below. Clearing the clog promptly is cheap prevention.
Do you service showers in condos and triple-deckers?
Yes. Quincy and Boston-area triple-deckers and condos often share stacks — one unit's clog can sometimes signal a stack-level issue. We work in condo and multifamily buildings regularly and coordinate access as needed.
Will you tear up the shower tile?
No — in almost every case we clear through the existing drain. We don't tear up tile unless there's a structural pipe problem behind the wall, and we'd show you the reason before anything is opened up.
Do you clear clogged bathtub drains too?
Yes — same visit, same plumber, same pricing. A tub clog is the same hair-and-soap problem as a shower clog, just reached through the overflow plate and the pop-up stopper instead of a floor strainer. Our $99 to send a licensed technician out, not charged at all if you approve the repair.
Can I clear a tub drain myself?
You can try: remove the overflow plate and pop-out stopper, pull visible hair out with a drain claw or bent coat hanger. If the water still won't drain, the clog is past the trap and you need professional tools. Don't use chemical drain cleaners — they corrode pipes and aren't effective on hair/soap buildup.
Will you need to tear open my tub surround?
No — in almost every case we clear tub drains through the existing drain opening or the overflow. The only time we would need access is a structural pipe problem behind the wall, and we would tell you about that before doing anything. Camera inspection first, plan second.
Is a slow-draining tub the same as a fully clogged one?
Different stages of the same problem. Slow drains mean buildup is narrowing the pipe — it will eventually clog fully. Clearing it early is cheaper and less damaging than waiting for a backup.
Why does my shower drain back up only when the washing machine runs?
The washer discharges several gallons in a burst, and a shower on the same branch or stack is the lowest open fixture, so the backed-up water shows there first. That is a partly blocked branch or stack rather than a clog at the shower strainer, and we cable it from the point that reaches both.
Can a slow tub drain be a venting problem instead of a clog?
Yes. A blocked or undersized vent lets water drain slowly and gurgle even when the trap and line are clean. We rule out the clog first with a cable, and if the line is clear and the drain is still slow we check the vent through the roof or the attic rather than cabling again.

What causes a clogged shower or tub drain, and how does a plumber fix it?

A clogged shower or tub drain is almost always hair bound together with soap scum at the strainer, the stopper linkage or the P-trap below the floor, and a plumber fixes it by removing the strainer or overflow plate, pulling the mat out, and cabling the trap and branch line when the water still will not drain.

A shower trap sits below the floor and a tub trap behind the overflow, so neither is reachable the way a sink trap is. The work goes in through the drain opening or the tub overflow with a small-diameter cable sized for bathroom drains. A drain that clears and clogs again within a few months, or that drains slowly even when it is clean at the top, usually has soap scale along the branch line, which is cleared on the same visit by running the cable further.

What do we check first on a clogged shower or tub drain call?

  • The strainer, the stopper and the overflow linkage

    On a tub we remove the overflow plate and pull the stopper linkage, because the hair mat often hangs from it. On a shower we lift the strainer and check the crossbars first.

  • Whether the toilet or sink in the same bathroom is affected

    A tub that fills when the toilet flushes, or a sink that gurgles when the shower runs, moves the problem to the branch line or the stack and changes where we start.

  • Standing water around the drain flange after the drain clears

    Water that sits on the shower floor once the drain is open points to a flange or liner problem, which we flag rather than treat as a clog.

  • What the drain line is made of

    A mid-century South Shore house often has a galvanized or cast-iron tub drain with a narrowed bore. Knowing that before we cable prevents a damaged line and tells us whether jetting or a repair is the real answer.

When is a clogged shower or tub drain not a drain-cleaning job?

Three things that look like a shower or tub clog from the bathroom floor are not. Each has its own page and its own kind of visit.

  • Water coming through the ceiling below the bathroom

    A stained or dripping ceiling under a tub or shower is a leak at the drain shoe, the overflow gasket or the pan, not a clog. It is traced and fixed as ceiling leak repair.

  • The shower runs cold or will not mix hot

    A shower that loses hot water is a valve cartridge or water-heater problem on the supply side, a separate visit from drain work, covered under no hot water.

  • Gray water rises in the tub when the toilet flushes or the washer drains

    Waste from other fixtures arriving in the lowest tub means the main sewer line or the stack is blocked. That call starts with a sewer camera and belongs to sewer line service.

What should I do before the visit?

  1. Move shampoo bottles, mats and the shower curtain or door track out of the way so the technician can kneel at the drain.
  2. If you have a tub, leave the overflow plate in place; we remove it and reinstall it with the gasket seated correctly.
  3. Skip the chemical drain cleaner. If any has been poured in during the last day, say so when you call so it can be flushed before the drain is opened.
  4. Note how long the drain has been slow and whether any other fixture in the house changed at the same time; that history separates a simple hair clog from a branch-line problem.

Where to read more

This page covers one fixture. The full service, including main lines and jetting, is on our drain cleaning page; what decides the price of a visit is on what drain cleaning costs; and whether we work in your town is on the towns we serve.

Shower Draining Slow? We'll Fix It.

Licensed and insured. 4.8 stars from 418 Google reviews. No tile damage. Honest pricing.

Call (617) 479-9911Book Online

Also see: Full Drain Cleaning · Main Drain