Hello, how is everyone?

Where you reckon the cheapest place to live (counting muggings as a potential cost!) in Sheffield is?

That depends on your budget.

How low you wanna go? :D

You usually get what you pay for- with a few minor exceptions...I can think of a few places that are far too overpriced and perhaps even some that are good value for money. Although with the latter I reckon the west side is good value for money, although maybe you're not looking in a higher price bracket.

Specifics needed :thumbsup:

come and live in burngreave. I bought a house here a year ago and really like it. I have had no problems, the people are friendly, I have not been hassled at all, not seen any trouble.. I can recomend it.

I've heard Sothall is quite a nice area... Went to look at a studio appartment there the other day, it's such a lovely area, there were no kids hanging around on the street or any trouble... Looks fine to me... The appartment was priced at £39,950 which isn't too bad if you're young and itching to get onto the property ladder as I most certainly am!

Originally posted by caprice
I've heard Sothall is quite a nice area... Went to look at a studio appartment there the other day, it's such a lovely area, there were no kids hanging around on the street or any trouble... Looks fine to me... The appartment was priced at £39,950 which isn't too bad if you're young and itching to get onto the property ladder as I most certainly am!
You wanting to move up to my neck o the woods eh Caprice!

Good on ya lass!:thumbsup:
I'll be round for mi tea:D

I'll be round for mi tea

Haha beans on toast it is then DB! :thumbsup:

LOVE beans on toast. Add some marg or butter to the beans when cooking and they taste fab!:thumbsup:

Lol you're not meant to like beans on toast... lol! It's about the only thing I can cook... But I never do... lol... Boy am I going to have a shock when I leave home next year!!! lol!

Anyways, back on topic.... There's been a load of new houses on prince of wales road near the manor... Lovely little houses they are, shame about the location... No offence to my lovely manor people... :)

ooh, well the cheaper the better, like REALLY cheap, but i don't want to get attacked or robbed, and i don't have a car so it needs to be pretty easy to get around sheffield by public transport. is that specific enough?

actually i did think about burngreave but i don't know how safe it is, one friend of mine looks scared and says "aaargh attercliffe pitsmoor blah blah babble grrrhhnngrfff", another one says it's fine, don't listen to him

where else?

Sounds like you're better living in an out of town area served by the tram.
Hillsborough is a good medium but then again property prices have climbed significantly and you'll be heading towards a six figure sum for a terrace home there now.
If I were you I would look towards the Peaks District (Heh...get it...Crystal Peaks :D ) DaBouncer will be able to advise you on where to check out and where to avoid...


:thumbsup:

Woudlnt Bouncer just say Sothall? :D

I am moving to hackenthorpe... Cheap and Nice!

You could get a 2 bed ex council for 65 - 70!

Originally posted by Lickable
Woudlnt Bouncer just say Sothall?

I am moving to hackenthorpe... Cheap and Nice!

You could get a 2 bed ex council for 65 - 70!
Why would I just say Sothall? I wouldn't want the likes of you moving on my estate anyway ;) J/K

Nah I have friends in Hackenthorpe and the area for the most part is fine, although I'd avoid the shops myself.
Birley is also reasonable.
It depends on what your budget is, as Sothall is increasing dramatically in price and to be honest pretty soon it will be out of reach of most first time buyers. EG I bought my house for £69,950 July 2002 but now it would sell for at least £110,000 and it is only a 3 bed semi.

Halfway is nice but again the prices are shooting up.
You could probably find a good deal in Westfield, but I have heard (and read) mixed reviews on the area. I have never lived there so couldn't honestly say for sure.

Ha ha! you advised me to live in sothall! I noticed you advised most people of it... i agree its a really nice area but not for a first time buyer anymore. :(

I looked myself in the sothall area, but i could only afford a 1 bed apartment. I have lots of junk so thats too small for me!

Sothall is a great area and still within the reach of first time buyers. It's just that first time buyers will soon need to be earning more money than your average.

I looked at a few places on Hackenthorp / Westfield / Waterthorpe / Halfway / Aston before I settled at Sothall.

I think I made the best choice for me all round. Close the the tram, C.Peaks, RotherValley Country Park and the pub!

I only advised you on Sothall cos you said you were looking round here anyway. And I wont lie... the area is lovely!

If you wanna go really low get to pitsmoor!!

Pitsmoor/Burngreave aren't that low cost to be honest.

Just ask Neeeeeek and he'll tall ya!

thanks... i liked the look of crookes and the locations good cos i could walk into town, but i don't know i could afford it, are there any houses/flats these days for like 45k? small's fine, i mean crookes/crookesmoor would be so ace but how realistic is that? also i have acquaintances in burngreave, what is it really like there?

Hi I'm new to this website but wondered if anyone knew much about Woodhouse as i'm thinking of moving there...

cheers for any thoughts etc..

Originally posted by dead_poet
thanks... i liked the look of crookes and the locations good cos i could walk into town, but i don't know i could afford it, are there any houses/flats these days for like 45k? small's fine, i mean crookes/crookesmoor would be so ace but how realistic is that? also i have acquaintances in burngreave, what is it really like there?

Sorry - the only thing I've seen available in Crookes or Crookesmore for £45k was a building plot!

I've looked at both Crookes end and Sothall. Sothall is more favourable in terms of the area but Crookes as it's nearer to the centre and work, especially as I don't drive.

Can anyone tell me how long it takes to get to the City Centre from Sothall via the tram and if there are any buses too?

Don't know Sheffield very well but have slight concerns regarding tram routes and which parts of Sheffield they go through. Anything to worry about there?

Cheers

If you can get some lovely mr bank manager to give you some cash, you could buy a piece of brownfield/ waste land, and build your own house!!!
This may sound stupid, but hear me out. Brownfield sites, waste land, and old industrial land is cheaper to buy than land put aside fro housing developments, so there's your first saving.
Then, instead of building your house out of boring old bricks and cement etc, look into alternative methods of house building, such as flat pack, timber frame, or even straw bale!!!

http://www.strawbalefutures.org.uk/

Take a look at this website. These are house building professionals. They work with the environment, not against it, and best of all, they're a team of fully qualified women builders!!!!! Just like on that lager advert!!

Anyway, hope this helps!! And if it's not the thing for you, at least it might give you some good ideas for the future.... :)

Oh come on! How long would a house like that last before being burnt down by chavs in Sheffield?

Originally posted by foxy27
If you wanna go really low get to pitsmoor!!

If 70 or 80k is low, then yeah?

er, you may find that pitsmoor house prices are on the rise as (european) redevelopment funds are spent on the area. Houses going for £45K are now pushing £100k in value. (especially around abbeyfield road).

The truth of the matter is that there is no where in sheffield now that has what I would call circa 2002 cheap houses.

Houses prices have shot up everywhere that they're all gonna be above 60k min. And 60k would be either a garage or a house with no roof or something.

Your only chance of getting a property in Sheffield on the cheap now would be:
A) Fire Damaged - or some other serious renovation req'rd.
B) Opt for a one bed flat somewhere on outskirts of sheffield and in a dodgy area.
C) Be a council tenant for X amount of yrs and use your right to buy. However i have heard from my council sources that the 'right-to-buy' scheme maybe gone within 12-24 months cos of the amount of people making profits on council houses.
It'll either be gone OR it will change to make it not much of a discount.

Either way 2 yrs is not enough to make it worth your while getting the discount.

So there you have it. It looks like renting, or starting from the VERY BOTTOM which means a flat.

I'm lucky that the mrs n I bought our house in 2002 for £73k (3 Bed Semi with drive / garage / conservatory) in lovely Sothall.
We've just sold for £118k and bought for £170k. We could NEVER have done that without making some serious £££ from house number 1 to lay down on house number 2.

Good luck people.... I'd hate to be a first time buyer in this day and age - unless I was a solicitor or some other VERY HIGH SALARY career.

Oh come on! How long would a house like that last before being burnt down by chavs in Sheffield?

Straw bale houses, once erected and plastered, are no more likely to catch fire and burn down than any other house built with conventional methods.
Quoting Barbarah Jones, of Amazon Nails:
"...It may seem strange, but when you stack bales up in a wall and plaster them either side, the density of the bales is such that there isn't enough air inside the bales for them to burn. It's like trying to burn a telephone directory - loose pages burn easily, but the whole book wont catch fire. Straw bale walls have passed all the fire tests they have been subjected to in the USA and Canada [and they test more rigorously over there, because the vast majority of their houses are made of timber, not brick]. Despite the bales themselves not being a risk, if you plaster any wall with a half inch of plaster, it gives sufficient fire protection to satisfy building regulations..."
A lot of people confuse straw with hay. Hay is a continual fire risk, as it can often spontaniously burst into flame (we've all seen fields on fire that were full of hay). But there is no known occurance of straw spontaneously combusting, even when stored in poor conditions.
Sorry for the long post, but I believe very strongly in the use of alternative buliding methods for homes, as I am sick of the building companies charging full whack for something that you could do yourself for much cheaper, without their "help". Building a home your own way, out of locally produced products, not only benefits you cost wise, but also benefits LOCAL businesses, instead of benefitting that bloody European Union that already seems to be whealthy enough. Personally, I know who I'd rather give my money too!
P.S - My partner and I are working on plans to build our own straw bale home in the future, so I will be practicing what I preach - and I can't wait!! :)

Originally posted by LittleWitch
Building a home your own way, out of locally produced products, not only benefits you cost wise, but also benefits LOCAL businesses, instead of benefitting that bloody European Union that already seems to be whealthy enough. Personally, I know who I'd rather give my money too! What is that supposed to mean? What has the EU got to do with your house and who builds it?

What is that supposed to mean? What has the EU got to do with your house and who builds it?

A lot of building materials used in British homes today are imported from other countries, because it's apparently cheaper (although I don't see any reduction in house prices because of it). And so, when houses are built, instead of the money spent on materials going to local firms in this country, it's going to massive international firms based abroad, usually in Europe somewhere.
Also, with Britain getting more and more involved with the European Union, they are having more and more to say about where we buy our materials from (Global Trade and all that) which means that a firm in britain that producecs building materials could be losing out because the government want to form strong relations with other countries.
That's what I meant.

I saw a series of houses in the paper last week for £30-40k.

They didn't have indoor bathrooms :P

Originally posted by LittleWitch
Straw bale houses, once erected and plastered, are no more likely to catch fire and burn down than any other house built with conventional methods.
Quoting Barbarah Jones, of Amazon Nails:

Did you catch Grand Designs, where the presenter decided to erect a small Straw Bale Studio?

Very nice and cosy, and the heat loss from the whole building is incredibly low.

Wood framed houses with straw bale walls, rendered in lime plaster are astoundingly effecient. Top it with a sod roof and you cut the heat loss to less than 5% of even a 'well insulated' home.

Stick a 20,000 gallon water heatsink underneath and connect up to a solar panel array and you may never have to pay for heating again.

I was seriously interested in getting PV rooftiles, but the cost, even though it was halved by a grant, and you got rebates on the leccy bill, was too high.

Imagine if every envelope schemed house in sheff had been given a set of PV rooftiles......

Did you catch Grand Designs, where the presenter decided to erect a small Straw Bale Studio?

Wow, no I didnt, but I bet it looked amazing!
It's so frustrating that more people don't know about the benefits of building with straw. When you really read into it, it's terrifying what a "regular" house can be doing to your health. With straw bales, the air inside is fresher than with brick, as the walls "breathe", which can mean lower cases of asthma and other respiratory illnesses in the people who live in them.
Why oh why don't the government make straw bale building more accessible to people? If more people bulilt their own homes using straw bale techniques, there would be so much more freedom over what your house would look like finished, and every house would be unique and full of character.
Too many people are unhappy where they live at the present time. If more schemes existed to help them build a really welcoming (incredibly affordable) home that they would enjoy living in, I think much more people would become more content, and their standard of living would actually go up.
There would be little or no need for council housing, as people would be able to build a home on even the smallest of budgets. This may sound like a ridiculous and unattainable dream, but it would be possible. People in the poorest countries in the world manage to build their own homes for next to nothing - so why cant we?

I'd personally rather bricks and mortar, but each to their own!

I'd personally rather bricks and mortar, but each to their own!

Exactly, t020. But it would be nice to have the choice. :)

Have you tried getting a mortgage on your house of straw?

As we are building our straw bale house ourselves, it will be financed through savings, loans and grants - not with a mortgage.
Incidentally, mortgage means "grip of death". :o

Where exactly are you building this.... "house"?

Originally posted by LittleWitch
People in the poorest countries in the world manage to build their own homes for next to nothing - so why cant we?

Land value, labour costs, cost of materials, cost of red tape provisions (legal aspects, regulations, etc).

Where exactly are you building this.... "house"?

DEFINITELY NOT in a Tory area! ;)

Land value, labour costs, cost of materials, cost of red tape provisions (legal aspects, regulations, etc).

You're missing my point t020. I was trying to say that we should be able to get all the help we need to build houses ourself, using inexpensive local materials to keep the costs to a minimum, and so avoid all these extra costs. It's just a shame that all the red tape provisions as you put it cost so much to implement.

But we can hardly have a housing free for all whereby people simply erect houses however, whenever, and wherever they choose.

Again, where are you building your "house"? I'm curious because I'd have thought that land costs would still be quite high, even on 'brownfield' sites.

t020, I really don't like the way you refer to a straw bale building as a "house", as if using straw is somehow not a legitimate building technique. As you said yourself several posts ago, each to their own.
Also, I have never suggested that there should be a "housing free for all", merely I was questioning why it costs so much to get a self build started. Planning permission is an absolute necessity, as the cost of land in this country is at an all time premium, and otherwise there would be people flattening vast areas of greenfield sites and putting up housing estates.
And yes, unfortunately land costs are disproportionately high in this country, again because the cost of land available for development is at a premium.
We don't know yet where we are going to build our home, as it is still very much in the discussion stage at the moment, but we do know that land costs are going to take the largest portion of our build budget. Although we haven't yet ruled out moving abroad to live, where land costs are significantly lower, and straw bale building is already an established and respected practice.

Well I have to say that I think it's a very positive thing that you are doing. You seem to have looked into it and all you need is the land. Now of course, that's going to be the tricky one!

At the moment it's almost impossible to buy a plot for less than £50k, even in cheaper areas of Sheffield. However, if you look a little further afield maybe around Rotherham or Barnsley you might have more luck.

You might find it useful to try to make a friend of a sympathetic planning officer in each area - they might just have a bright idea where you can find a plot to build your unusual house of straw :thumbsup:

Tony maybe you can help me with this one...

Isnt there a proposal of sorts with the ODPM to open up some greenfield sites for developers to build on in 2005?

There is, but not in this region. The south east has a big problem with overcrowding and really needs some greenbelt (not greenfield) release.

This region has a long way to catch up on density, hence the explosion in apartments. Don't expect to see any major greenbelt release in the next 20 years. Greenfield is another kettle of fish, and it depends on the local UDP allocation and individual site conditions.

Sheffield's population is reducing and the allocation and population stat's and projections show that there is adequate land supply. DO NOT believe any political claims that the greenbelt is under threat - it isn't anytime soon.

Thanks Tony, your advice helps a lot. :thumbsup:

Originally posted by LittleWitch
Wow, no I didnt, but I bet it looked amazing!

Too many people are unhappy where they live at the present time. If more schemes existed to help them build a really welcoming (incredibly affordable) home that they would enjoy living in, I think much more people would become more content, and their standard of living would actually go up.


It did look amazing, although it had an undeniably rustic feel down to the rough lime render.

It was constructed on a simple foundation and simply built up as if using giant bricks. Then the entire structure was secured by driving sharpened hazel rods down through the bales. A wooden frame and roof trusses topped it off IIRC.

Not only is straw bale construction cheap, it is quick, relatively unskilled, and can be finished to a very high quality (rustic look not compulsory). The amount of ancillary materials used is minute in comparison to a normal build, and consequently the amount of "collateral pollution" is also greatly reduced. (Also the number of road miles required, kWh consumed, CO2 released etc etc.)

The Grand designs team were met with a great deal of respect and admiration by planning officers charged with looking into planning permission, and were very complementary to the technique on several counts.

I would love a modern sod roof house - like a technological cave dwelling; built into a hill, almost invisible from the outside, and lots of tunnels. Thermal Efficiency? Now you're talking.

That's exactly how I feel on the subject, Phanerothyme. It's amazing what can be done with the most inexpensive, readily available, environmentally sound materials. It's just unfortunate that modern society has taught us that it's not legit unless it's brick, concrete, or remarkably environmentally unfriendly.

I for one can't wait to get cracking on my straw bale home!!!

Where are you thinking of building it?
I'd be interested to see it being constructed and may even offer an hour or two of my time giving you a hand.

I think the houses look well funky, but I'd worry about safety more than anything. You know... imagine if (god forbid) the wiring short circuits. It's rip through that house like it was petrol.

Or if lightening struck the house... again, with it's thatched (straw) roof... you'd be done for.

However... they do look cool!

Many thanks for the kind offer, DaBouncer. We may well take you up on it!!!

I will let you know when things start moving, but it wont be for a while yet.

We wont have a thatched roof, as they are quite high maintenance, and you can get rats etc nesting in them - I love animals, but I'm unnaturally afraid of rats, so that's a big no no. However, we haven't ruled out wooden shingles or other natural roofing options, such as Phanerothyme was describing.

Yes, safety is of paramount importance when it come to building straw bale homes. Although once finished and completely rendered inside and out it will pose no more of a fire risk than any other house, during the construction, extra caution must be taken. For example - a no smoking policy must be adhered to at all times on a straw bale building site, as damaged bales create waste and extra cost.

However, yes, after all the work is done and you can step back and look at what you've built with your own hands, you have to agree that straw bale houses look cool. :)

Meadowhead, I,ve got family living there. Its really nice and quiet, local shops (big supermarkets not far away), park and busses etc

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
er, you may find that pitsmoor house prices are on the rise as (european) redevelopment funds are spent on the area. Houses going for £45K are now pushing £100k in value. (especially around abbeyfield road).


I don't think he meant the house prices!!