I recommend getting familiar with Australian standards 3959 regarding construction within a bushfire prone region, and your local state regulations or guides such as the HIA s reports. Once you have those practical provisions in place, you can start to factor in your individual constraints and consider materials and siting relevant to your specific build. I would also look into chatting to people affected by fire loss and what their recommendations are, in hindsight people find clarity in what they would do different etc. In all building, our codes dictate standards be met to obtain the highest possible fire ratings, but that is not the same as fire proof. Even the most prepared structure may fail in the face of a fire, meeting these requirements will at best buy you time. I would place significant emphasis on self sufficiency and have a services contingency, so in the event of a fire and isolation of mains water and electric, you have provisions for these services to you alone.

Not familiar with this chap. Great lines. This "beef is so raw it's started to eat the salad" reminds me of a few steaks that I have sent back to the chef. ;-)

I had heard that how2girl. I am trying to do some more research on 2016 statistics for WA. It looks like most hardwoods are naturally resistant to white-ant and apparently they don't like MDF much because of the glue content. The data and statistics that I have found so far seem to be from 1995 & 2004. We did look in to this before we decided to manufacture the architraves and MDF was the better option. We do offer timber though as well.

Hi Kylieac71, We put a nectre freestanding gas log fire in recently. I think it looks great and puts out good heat. When you choose your location make sure you know what’s in the roof space & roof at that point if you want the flue to be straight. It needs to avoid beams, roof hips etc.