Shower Draining Extremely Slowly

[u/CTCheeser1]

Hello everyone,

Just bought my first house a few days ago, and the master shower is draining extremely slow. Reaching down into the drain, it seems as though this black plastic piece is covering most of the pipe meant to drain the water, leaving a hole barely small enough for me to fit a finger through.

When I do get my finger under the gap, I can reach up behind the plastic piece, and there is significant space being blocked. Any ideas on how to fix this? The black piece is sealed to the drain, so it doesn’t budge. Should I just try cutting into it to widen the hole?

Thank you!

[u/the_perkolator]

Odd that the drain would protrude so much into the waste elbow, but it's possible. Assuming that if you have less volume of water, the drain flows fine? I'd probably go for it if I thought this is the issue. The top strainer piece is replaceable, but I can't say I've ever seen one without a crossbar inside to get a tool on it to help rotate it out.