In: Civil Engineering
A single-storey brick veneer house (single layer of brick on a timber frame) has a front corner lounge-room with a floorplan measuring 4.0 m by 3.8 m. The ceiling is 3.0 m high. The building fabric of the two exterior walls comprises a 12 mm thick layer of plaster, a 100 mm air gap and the exterior house bricks (110 mm thick). One of these walls has a window measuring 2.7 m wide by 1.35 m high, featuring a 3-mm thick glass pane installed in the mid-1950s. The floor is carpet over 19 mm thick pine floorboards, and the house is on stumps with a ventilated air gap between the ground and the floorboards. The ceiling is 12 mm plasterboard covered with a 50 mm thick layer of loose fill insulation in the roof cavity. This house is located in suburban Melbourne.
Based on your own research into pricing for retrofitting double glazing, modern insulating single-glazing, adding ceiling or under-floor insulation, or other measures, what would be the most cost-effective strategy for improving the heat retention of the room? Show calculated results for at least three alternatives.