Duck tape... or Duct tape?

If you are like me, you snicker when you hear someone refer to "duck" tape because, of course, we KNOW it is DUCT tape, for taping A/C ducts. Well, I read recently that in fact, the tape is actually named for the cloth that gives the tape its strength. The cloth? Cotton duck. So it IS duck tape after all.

Any way, I got to use a LOT of du(ck/ct) tape this weekend. I finished installing the duct (not duck) for the bathroom exhaust fan. This was another of those projects that took much longer than expected. Of course a pro would have had it done in a couple hours, but I would never have guessed it would take this long, so why bother paying someone else? The challenge, or complication, is that the bathroom is not adjacent to an exterior wall, so the duct is relatively long. Since it is long, I wanted to avoid using inadequate duct, which would reduce the effectiveness of the fan. So I used 10x3.5 inch rectangular duct.
The good news was that the fan is very quiet. When I connected the internal plug and flipped the switch I thought I must have connected it wrong because it was so quiet.
This means I need to replace the fan in the upstairs bathroom. We new that it was loud, but now we know exactly how much quieter a good fan could be!!

Power Tools

The hardest part of this project is having to buy power tools.

While framing around a replacement window I realized that cutting the compound angles necessary would be challenging, at best, with a circular saw. The obvious solution, I realized, was to buy a table saw. I planned to do this eventually anyway. When I am building cabinets and storage areas I will want the table saw, so it was only a matter of convincing myself that I needed to buy the table saw sooner rather than later. Well, and convincing my wife also.
I had been checking them out at the local hardware store, so when the time came I was ready to move. I bought the saw, assembled it (no small task), and got the window framed in the same afternoon.

Continuous Forward Progress...

Despite the lack of blog posting, there has been progress over the past month... Slow, but steady progress.
The framing of the main room is just about done. This is the third week I have said that, but now it is even closer to being accurate! The bar/closet is framed, as well as the railing around the stairs and the framing around the drain pipe at the bottom of the stairs. Still to frame are the window and the two columns.
I also haven't installed the duct work for the bathroom exhaust fan or the drier vent.

But we're getting there. Hopefully I will have some pictures soon.
And we need to start framing the second room... but first we need to empty it! But that is why we have the lawn ornament (a forty foot shipping container to store all the stuff that had to come out of the basement!)