brazil_ducts[1]I’ve now completed the work I can do in the basement without more progress from my framing and drywall contractor.  I have all the electrical run, including a double switch setup to the main light and five outlets, wired to the original basement circuit (which was almost unused before this).

I’ve now also installed the ceiling air register, and all I can say is:  Thank God for duct tape.  Duct tape is so useful for everyday projects that I hadn’t realized what a lifesaver it is for HVAC projects.  Let’s just say that without the tape, and a quarter-gun of mastic, I’d have been spending more of Saturday in the basement than I did, and probably teaching Thomas new vocabulary at that.

The only things I have left to do before finishing are to run the cable from the existing drop to the new wall, which I can’t do until Tom reframes that wall to give me crawlspace access to the basement stairs, and possibly to install an air return register.  I haven’t decided whether I’m going to do this or not, but if I decide to do so the run is pretty short and easy, and there’s good access, so I can do it at any time before or after drywall.

No photos at the moment; I’ll take some when the drywall is up.