Shaina, when we were looking for a new place a few years ago before moving to Laramie one of the criteria was where I was going to put my shop.  For places that didn't have a garage or the garage was too small or otherwise unsuitable (e.g. incorporated into the structure of the house in such a way that there would be no way of running a chimney) I was looking at the possibility of buying a prefab building like the ones you see at Home Depot or Lowes and having it moved in or building it myself.  The feasibility of that will be dependent on your budget but if you can afford it or can roll the cost into your mortgage I think it can be a serious option.

One of the major selling points of the place we bought here is that there is a 30' x 24' horse barn on the back of the lot which I have converted into my shop.  So, the issue of acquiring a building did not come up.

I agree with Frosty that this is not an optimum time to be buying real estate given the generally inflated home prices and high mortgage rates.  That said, if you have to buy now you can always refinance when the rates come down.  You and Ashley will know your own business best.  We refinanced about a year ago and got 3.2%.  If we had been a bit quicker we could have gotten 2.6%.  I'd stay away from a variable rate mortgage unless there are provisions on how high it could go.

Good luck and let us know what happens and post us photos.

GNM

When i bought this house one of my preconditions was an out building to use as a shop. A garage would be fine as long as it was not attached to the house. If something like a fire were to happen i would rather lose just the garage than both the house and garage. This place has a 1 car garage and a 30x30 barn. The garage is one of those small 1950's type that is actually to small for my truck. So the garage became my workshop and the barn my garage. 

My dad picked up one of those prefab sheds a few years back for $100 from a moving company. Some moving companies have warehouses to store people stuff in. Sometimes that stuff never gets claimed so the company will sell it. You can also pick up a conex, used, for less than $2,000 if that is in your budget. 

Congrats on the new home though. I, like everyone else would say wrong time to buy, but if the price is right and you can agree on terms to your liking, more power to ya. 

Chimney is up! Now THAT was a pain. It's a little janky and I ended up using a roof support kit to hold it in place because I couldn't find the part I needed for a reasonable price. As with all of this thing, it's not the prettiest but it meets all the clearance requirements.

Hopefully I'll be done with everything but a couple more boards and more gravel this weekend.

 

Chimney stack is about 10' not including the cap. The T is something I'm trying in the hopes that the turbulence of the capped end will kind of work like a smoke shelf.

Roof finished just in time for the storm tomorrow haha.

Technically good to go at this point, but I need to nail up the rest of the walls and do some tidying up of the appearance.

If you get high winds you might want to put guys on the chimney, the moment of leverage between roof supports and hood is pretty substantial. 

Frosty The Lucky.

19 hours ago, Frosty said:

put guys on the chimney

I know a couple teenagers looking for some extra cash, they will work for pennies on the dollar compared to older guys.

Yeah, we'll see. I'm took extra care to super reinforce the chimney right before the penetration so the biggest risk is probably the twist lock coming undone, but that's heat taped and clamped so I'm pretty confident I'll be fine.

Like I said in other comments, the wind in that area is pretty seriously negated due to various barriers in the area.

I can leave an un-secured tarp on the ground in that area on a windy day and it won't move.

Betting the odds eh? So how long has it been since you got a 30mph gust? That's enough to fold a tall stovepipe right over. 

Frosty The Lucky.

I'm with Frosty on that one...looks like a darned expensive flue pipe there.  A wire from each corner of the roof to it would be the best insurance, "just in case".  Mother Nature can throw one some pretty nasty curve balls.

11 hours ago, arkie said:

I'm with Frosty on that one...looks like a darned expensive flue pipe there.  A wire from each corner of the roof to it would be the best insurance, "just in case".  Mother Nature can throw one some pretty nasty curve balls.

i see forge project in the future. Some very nice supporting bars to replace those staywires

Hmmmm, forged guys eh, Gewoon? I'm getting the image of forged hands holding onto little handles riveted to the stove pipe. 

I've found in most cases 3 guys are more stable than 4, there is no angle the wind can hit it that two guys can make a hinge. It's why a tripod anvil stand is stable on any surface where a quad stand tends to rock corner to corner. 

Before anybody says it. Any surface level and even enough the anvil can't tip over. 

Frosty The Lucky. 

You also do not have to buy as much beer to get 3 guys to hold it instead of 4. 

(sorry cant help myself)

Alright, you've convinced me. Back up we go.

Darn all this reasoning

 hmmm like the idea frosty.

3 guys holding on to thr pipe. 1 hand on the stovepipe and a beer in the other.

you should better make a stronger foundation and walls to support the supporting guys that are supporting the stovepipe.

Speaking of beer Billy (old steel cans for iron content of course) didn't you mean you, CANNED help yourself? Hmmmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

Well, I was in the middle of that big storm in New England, couple trees came down, lost power, flooding, etc, crazy winds... My shed and chimney took it like a champ!

I'm gonna go slap it and say it's not going anywhere 

Frosty The Lucky.