Basement Floor and Walls

The house now has a basement floor, as well as some walls.



This picture shows the floor and I labeled it:

• Stairs: Stairs from basement to first floor.
  
  
  
  
• Future Bathroom: Bathroom with shower. We could not get a permit for a bathroom in the basement. Our approved plans do not show this area as a bathroom, but we put the plumbing and electrical spots in. When we get the Tofes 4 (remember that is the final OK), we can add the bathroom.





• Sealed Room: Reinforced room. This room is standard size and construction. It is required by lawfor all homes built in Israel.





• Possible Future Kitchen: Kitchen area which can include a stove, oven, refrigerator, and sink. We designed it with Alan and we planned the plumbing and electrical spots. It does not appear on our approved plans as a kitchen. I'm not sure we will add this.

This next picture shows the walls. The first picture shows what we saw when we came home yesterday. The second shows the progress made today.

Water Problem Solved ?

On Friday, Harry and I met with Asaf.


He has a company that installs a natural water purification system based on constructed wetlands systems. Here is a link that explains constructed wetlands:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_wetland


It looks like we will be going with this system.




The water runs from the house to a tank. Here, only the grey water is being recyled. Our system will recycle both grey and black water.
















This is the first stop for the water... before being treated.
















The water runs through an underground filter with rocks and plants.
















These rocks promote bacterial growth to break down the waste products in the water.
















After the rocks, the water is sent to this pond. It contains fish and plants that provide another source to further break down the waste producst. Our system will be much larger. It will include two underground tanks for filtering the water. Prior to final exit, the water undergoes UV irradiation.











Pure water. In our case, ready for the meshek...

Are we buiding again?

It seems so...
Earlier this week, the workers put down the steel for the basement. It looks like they laid steel under the floor and then the columns that will support the weight of the house.It took the workers about 2 days to lay all these.



The drainage pipe runs from the middle left side of the basement, which is where the bathroom will be, to the upper left-center, which is by the drainage pit. In the plans, we put outlets and piping on this side. If in the future, we want to build a kitchen in the basement the plumbing and electicity are set up.







On Thurdsday they poured the cement for the floor. We now have a basement floor. To keep it from cracking, we watered it several times each day.