My house is not fit for purpose in this weather!

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i know there are some well insulated houses in the U.K. now but so much of the older housing stock is not designed for cold weather. I didn’t fully appreciate this when I first moved to the U.K. because gas was cheap and I had heating on all the time.

I am in a small Victorian mid terrace (pretty much the only housing available in my part of London). Had some renovations including new windows. But still so cold. Fine in mild weather but yesterday I was out all day and didn’t get home until the evening - so heating had been off for 24 hours. It was 13 degrees in my bedroom!

We live somewhere it’s minus temperature outside for 3 months. Our house is old. It not great insulation compared to new. If we turned heating off for 24hrs we would be in trouble with frozen pipes.

we have smart thermostat values now. Our heating is on 24/7 but controlled to lower overnight, when out or in rooms not used as much. Rooms not in I keep 12 degrees 24/7 ie spare room, rooms like hallways drop to 16 overnight and bedrooms 18. If I turn heating off completely at 9pm, it would easily drop from 21 to 10 degrees indoors by 6am

On the plus side, latest research shows that sleeping in a bedroom below 14 degrees may help prevent dementia, so we’re (trying to) embrace the cold😃

I turned our heating down as went to bed and don't like a too hot bedroom. Few hours later and temp was 13
So easily done if no heating on for 24hrs

The thing is to leave heating on but at around 16 or 17 degrees so it never drops that low as it then takes lots of energy to warm it up. It sounds more like its not what you are used to, than the house being worse than anyone elses. Have you insulated everything you can, got tape round doorways to seal, got draught excluders on outside doors, decent curtains with linings, rugs or carpet on floors, are windows and doors double glazed. Are you opening curtains in day time to get sunlight in and heat assoc with that and making sure to close early evening to keep any heat in. Slippers and socks, I have a house cardi - proper wool so warm, sit with a rug or heated blanket, or hot water bottle. Also if you have old fire places are they insulated if not in use, have you had your heating system serviced and flushed through to remove sludge. Are the radiators decent or really old and inefficient (are they sized properly for the room)

I live in an end terrace single skin Victorian house. They don't retain any heat so you can't leave the heating of for 24 hours and expect it to be warm! They are draughty as designed originally to have a fire going 24/7 which needs the fresh air!

As others have said while it's cold you need to have the heating on a low temp constantly. The cost of heating is something you have to factor in when living in an old house. We always wear slippers/ socks, wear lots of layers, sit under blankets and have thick duvets on our beds! It's all part of the old house experience!

Detached 17 year old house. ( originally from new build )
Still cold and draughty
I wouldn’t leave my heating on all day, can’t afford it.
I think we are all in the same position

It has not been above freezing for about a week or so now, no wonder your house was cold if you left it with no heating at all for 24 hours.

If you are out for a couple of days in this weather leave your boiler on the frost protect setting.

I do actually have an electric radiator and used it quite a lot in November when the gas heating was not on. But it showed just how expensive electric heating is compared to gas! Just using the electric radiator for a few hours every day meant that my electricity bill for the month went from £50 to £180!!!