Marysville builder Rohan Steele is convinced that homes built to resist extremes of weather are also able to resist bushfires, after a house he built in Marysville survived the recent Black Saturday fires, despite being completed surrounded by fire.

After spending two years researching the best materials for a low maintenance, low energy, fire resistant house, Steele discovered that airtight houses built from fire resistant materials such as uPVC framed windows, weatherboards and decking of recycled composite resist ignition and repel ember attack.

Steele designed and built the airtight house which is still standing in Marysville, while similar houses in Kingslake, Flowerdale and Canberra all testify to the fire resistant, insulating strength and windproof seal of Certainteed uPVC windows.

"My house was totally insulated, roof, ceiling, floor and walls. This slowed the heating process long enough for the firefront to pass. But other houses withstood the firefront only to be overwhelmed by ember attack. Even tiny gaps in the windows and walls allow embers to fizz through the house driven by winds that turn an ordinary house into a blast furnace," he said.