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You are here: Home / Tools/Products / Ebbe Drains: Finally, someone thought about the drain cover

Ebbe Drains: Finally, someone thought about the drain cover

December 26, 2013 by James Upton 8 Comments

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You’ve picked out your fixtures, your tile, and even the grout color. You probably didn’t even think of the shower drain.

Why put an ugly drain in your brand new tile shower pan if you don’t have to?

You have a better option. The option is called an Ebbe drain.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Please note: This is not a sponsored post

Ebbe Drain in shower floor
An Ebbe drain looks much better than most drains that you buy at the store

What makes the Ebbe drain cool

  • They’re square
  • They come in ten designer colors that match your shower faucet trim
  • There are no screws to lose down the drain
  • They come with a hair trap to catch the hair before it clogs the drain
construction cap on ebbe drain
The plastic cap is used during construction so the finished drain doesn’t get damaged

How the Ebbe drains work

These drains don’t require any special tools or know-how. When building a new shower simply let the plumber install their normal ugly drain that they carry around in their van.

From that point, all you need to do is unscrew the top strainer part of the drain and screw in your new Ebbe drain. It’s that simple.

ebbe drain next to a standard drain
Unscrew the top part of the drain and screw the new Ebbe drain in

As far as the drain itself, it comes with a T-handle that fits into one of the holes and lets you pull the drain up.

No screwdrivers, no losing the small screws down the drain. Underneath the grate is a round hair trap which you can remove and clean.

Cost

When factored into the overall cost of a bathroom remodel the cost of an Ebbe drain is insignificant. However, when compared to other drains, they’re quite expensive. Whereas you can buy a 3 piece shower drain at the big box store for under $20 an Ebbe drain will typically set you back around $50 for the riser and the drain grate. You should not be charged any additional labor to install the drain.

Do the Ebbe drains work with the Kerdi Shower system?

The short answer:  Sort of

noble drain flashing
Ebbe drains can be used with a drain flashing for sheet membrane shower systems

Long answer:  [Warning! Technical jargon ahead]. Please see this post that talks about the different types of showers that are mentioned below:

They work well with traditionally built shower systems.

When using a surface membrane system, such as a Schluter Kerdi shower, you would have to use what we call a “divot” system. The divot system is where the shower pan is dished down around the drain.

Noble and Schluter both make a “hat” or drain flashing that is used for the purpose of adapting a surface membrane waterproofing system to a traditional 3-piece shower drain.

Most surface waterproofing systems can be adapted in this manner.

Some manufacturers, such as Schluter and Laticrete, make their own drains that are designed for their surface waterproofing systems. Schluter’s Kerdi drain, for example, comes in five different finishes.

Ebbe drain pieces
Ebbe riser kit includes: the riser, the hair trap, and the construction plug. You then purchase the grate in the finish of your choice.

How do I get one?

Ebbe drains are available online or through specialty tile supply stores. You can ask your tile installer about them but, depending on the installer, they may or may not have heard of them.

It’s just a drain but at least someone put some thought into it.

Filed Under: Tools/Products

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Designer Drains says

    January 11, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    I agree with your comment that nobody in the business paid attention to the drain, except for Designer Drains. Visit our site to see the most unique stainless steel square and round drains ever. https://www.designerdrains.com/ebbesquaredrains.aspx

  2. DIYTileGuy says

    January 12, 2014 at 11:59 am

    Looks like you have some nice shower grate options.

  3. Samantha Velez says

    July 15, 2014 at 9:37 am

    This is an excellent post. Why not finish a job well done and install a beautiful drain in a beautiful shower?

  4. Robert Greene says

    September 30, 2014 at 5:08 am

    I like your shower and your idea is very innovative.

  5. Chelsey says

    August 28, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    Thanks so much for the review and we are glad that you love our drains! If you would be interested we would love it if you could send us some pictures of our drains in some finished projects and email them with a comment/review to orders@ebbe-america.com. Thanks again!

  6. DIYTileGuy says

    August 29, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    Thanks for the comment, Chelsey. I’ll check out your website.

  7. Robin says

    March 10, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    Appreciate your post on Ebbe drains. We are building new and have hot mop in both showers with 3.5 ” drain pipe extending up into shower floor. One already has mud and awaiting tile application. Very bummed that I had no clue about these drains earlier. Can I still use them in unused shower space by just screwing it into 3.5″ diameter pipe?

  8. DIYTileGuy says

    March 14, 2020 at 11:53 am

    Yes. If the mud bed hasn’t been installed yet then you can just unscrew the riser piece and screw Ebbe’s riser in place.

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Hi! I'm James!

I own a bathroom remodeling company in the Seattle area and blog about tile installation in my spare time.

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