I have a pre-fab shower unit that leaks around the drain into the basement. I tried to use plumbers putty around the drain but that doesn’t work, it’s to soft and payable and the hot water makes it loose it’s seal. Are there any products out there that dry hard and can be left exposed?
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The drain is normally a "clamp" in item if you have access to the under side, you will need to loosen, clean the surfaces and re-seal. Applying anything from the top will fail in a short time due to expansion and contraction with the hot water.
This is a pre-fab base? Fiberglass, plastic, or what? Is the drain pipe plastic or iron/steel?
If there is a strainer in the drain opening that pulls out easily remove it & look inside. Often what you have is a tapered opening in the base, and a tapered rubber plug is pressed into place around the drain pipe so that it wedges between the base opening and the pipe. But if the floor flexes relative to the pipe, it can eventually push this plug up enough to loosen it and cause leaks.
If this is what you have you need to press/drive the plug back down and then reenforce the floor under the shower sufficiently to keep it from flexing so much.
If, on the other hand, the visible part of the drain (after removal of any easily-removed strainer, etc) is a separate fitting, then probably it's screwed together like a standard tub or sink drain. You need to unscrew the parts and replace the gasket between the fitting and the shower base. Unfortunately, there are two or three variations here, combined with issues about the plumbing below, so it's hard to give more specific details about fixing it.