We have a basement.

This a picture of Eitan, Bentzi, and our first "guest", Yochai, in the basement of our house.

What a surprise. When I got home from work and drove by the property, I saw a huge hill of dirt. When I got closer, I saw what had happenned. I guess I didn't understand Iran. In the morning we spoke and I asked if they would be out later. He told me that a tractor would be coming out. I didn't realize what the tractor was going to dig...the basement.

I met Alan this morning. I asked him to come out, take a look, explain to me where everything will be, and try to finalize a few things. We met there at 9:30. We walked around and Alan pointed out what will be which room, and the view we will have from each future window.

We Are Really Building!

No turning back now. We are building a house. Today they dug the trenches for the foundation. Apparently, there is a custom to throw coins or rice into the trenches before it dries. I left the kids all the coins in the bottom of my purse which was a mixture of pennies and agarot. Bentzi and Sima were our representatives and went over to the site when they got home from school.

We did decide to raise the level of the house. The floor will be at the level of the beam where my arm is resting in the picture.

Last night we met with Yossi the installator (I guess that translates to Joe the pumber),Shmulik, Iran, and Alan. Yosi will install the water system. We are trying to figure out a way to recycle the grey water. I was impressed how they could look at plans on a piece of paper and make sense out of all the drawings.

Later Benny, the electrician came over. We didn't decide anything other than to meet again to decide. He wants to take us to some shop (no charge) where we can look at different standards and options. It seems anything can be electric.

I haven't mentioned the agricultural area behind the house. Harry has been working on that for more than 3 years. He has done an amazing job. We have every type of fruit tree you can think of. I'll add some pictures soon.

Can you find Harry in this picture..."Where's Harry?"

Sunday

Decisions and more decisions. Today Iran (Shmulik's son) put a fence around the area where they will be building. The height of the cross board, is the height of the floor. So when we got home we had to decide whether or not to raise this.
We are trying to make the house as environmentally friendly as possible. This week we need to decide on the water system and start thinking about the solar panels.

Rafi Lederman came by and was very helpful. He gave us a great overview of solar energy in Israel. Bottom line, we will wait until about 3 months before we finish. Prices keep getting lower and we cannot be hooked to the electric Company until we complete the house. We just have to be sure that the roof insulation is very good since it will be hard to change.
Rafi also explained about recycling water. Unfortunately we may be more limited in this. Right now we need to be sure that we have 2 water lines, one for green water (rain water) and one for grey water (shower, washing machime, and tap water). Right now there is no one in Israel who recycles black water (waste water) for private homes.

The Moded Was Here

Today the moded (surveyor) came to mark the points for the house.

I just noticed in the previous post that I wrote, the surveyor will be here tomorrow. I think that in Israel tomorrow means not today.

Contract Signed

That's it...we signed the contract last night. I guess that means that after more than three years of planning, waiting, and waiting, we are finally gong to build our house.

When we bought the property there was a small, run down house there. We looked into fixing it up but everyone told us not to even try. Eventually we tore it down. I had a picture of that house but I can't find it. So I am posting some of Alan's (the architect) images of the new house...the car is not included.

Well, what does this mean. Tomorrow the surveyer should come and then next week they dig the hole. The house will sit just behind where Harry and I are standing in this picture.