I’m writing this post because there is a huge interest in natural building now in Indiana, and yet very few active communities that connect, teach, and empower people to engage in natural building in the area.
So if you’re interested in natural building in Indiana, you’re in the right place! Please reach out and let us know what you’re up to and what you’re interested in.
I posted on Facebook to see if there is anyone else in Indiana doing natural building and have only had one response so far, but the search for fellow natural builders in Indiana continues!
Natural Building Resources in Indiana
This Cob House has great info about natural building in general and some of the laws and things to keep in mind when considering a natural building project in the state of Indiana: https://www.thiscobhouse.com/indiana-natural-building/
Map of Known Cob and Natural Building Structures in Indiana
Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ (PHJC’s) Hermitage
Location: Donaldson, Indiana
The community built a 14′ circular hermitage building with 15″ walls of cob with 9″ of straw bale inside for insulation, and they love and still use the building to this day.
It has a thatched roof they hired someone who’s Irish and living in Ohio to build. The structure took 3 years to build.
There are also several structures where they decorated the interior with cob walls and furnishings made of cob.
They mixed everything by hand and foot without any concrete mixers. They had a dumptruck they used to pick up free loads of clay from a local place that used to make clay tiles, and they mixed it with the sand from their building site. They used “urbanite,” broken up concrete from sidewalks to lay the 4″ foundation that was 2″ elevated above the soil with french drains.
Note: This is a work-in-progress, and we will update it as we learn more about the natural building community and existing natural building structures that exist in Indiana.
White Pine Wilderness Academy
Location: Rocky Ripple, Indiana
There’s a cob structure with metal roofing at White Pine Wilderness Academy that the students there play in every day.
They love to set up shop there as imaginary herbalists, chefs, and bakers so they can help their fellow townspeople.
It was built around 2014 and is need of some repairs. Matt said they tried to repair it but the metal mesh made it harder to get the new cob to stick. I told him applying clay slip first (a mix of clay and water that’s been soaked for at least 48 hours) would help, so we will try that when we have time to work on it.
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