Clogged Tub / Shower Drain

Let's begin by saying that I'm no handyman. The drain in our tub/shower enclosure is gradually getting choked off, no doubt from the hair of the female members of the family. Before I take a crowbar to the plug to try and remove it, I'd like to try a more gentle method. The way the plug works is that
- if you rotate it while pulling up on it, it will remain open for a shower
- if you rotate it a bit more, it will close for a bath
I am going to have to remove it altogether to get at the hair mass that I am sure is plugging the drain. Any ideas on how I do this?

Thanks

John

Most of these type of drain plugs are removed by rotating them until they drop down to the "bath position", and then unthreading them counterclockwise. It might be necessary to use a pair of pliers to unthread them.

Thanks for the tip Phish. Worked beautifully. Getting the plug out that is. When it came to actually clearing the plug, not so easy. There was a little bit of black gunk that I managed to remove with fingers and a bit more when I poked a coat hanger around down there. But that didn't result in water flow at all. We then poured 1/2 a bottle of Liquid Plumber down the drain, waited a 1/2 hour and still no relief. Then the second 1/2 of the LP went down the drain, waited a full hour this time, and still no flow! Then we filled the tub FULL of hot water to the maximum depth the tub would allow and 15 minutes later - presto! - we heard a gurgle as the vortex formed in the water and the tub drained in less than a minute. Lesson to be learned from this, at least for me, is that the obstruction can be way down the pipe where it's not visible. I had expected it to form around the cross hairs that is just below the plug. Anyway, thanks again for the tip and even though it wasn't straightforward, we achieved success in the end.

Next time, you might try taking the overflow cover off and running the coat hanger down that. Sorry that I didn't mention that last night, might have saved you some trouble.

I used the "Zip it" plastic tool with nothing else and it worked perfectly although one of the plastic teeth broke off. Hope that doesnt mess things up.

Those little plastic teeth won't hurt a thing. It's the ball of hair you have to worry about!

And thats exactly what I pulled up