I spent a good portion of the day working on the River House. Tomorrow, a waterproofing product called Tuff-n-Dri will be sprayed onto the outside of the foundation walls. While it is still wet, an insulating water drainage layer called Warm-n-Dri will be set into the tar-like coating. In preparation for this work, I needed to mark out the finish grade elevation around the entire perimeter of the house. This was easier said than done. I used a laser level on a tripod to project a finished grade line onto the foundation. I then climbed down a ladder into the excavated trenches and then up a ladder to mark the level on the wall. I did this for both ends of each of the eight walls and in cases with a diagonal profile, I snapped a chalk line and then created a stair-stepped pattern to simplify the installation process. All in all, I think I must have climbed up and down a 10 foot ladder a hundred times over the course of a few hours. Once the levels were all marked out, I had to drill a screw into the foundation at each location since the waterproof coating will cover all of the marks once applied. Another hundred trips up and down the ladder. Despite the strenuous exercise, I found the work very satisfying and had several frogs to keep me company.