Typically the the weather was more consistent and you knew what to expect. Now out of the blue, same township, huge winds, ice storms, branches broken everywhere, windows broken, a lot of damages, and who pays for it? You’re listening to Build the Unbuildable, a podcast about designing dream cottages on some of the most challenging sites in Ontario’s cottage country. All right, welcome back to another episode of Build the Unbuildable. I’m John Tyman and as always I’m joined by James Pitchpov, principal at Lakeside Architecture, Inc. and today we are talking about climate resilient cottage design. I’m excited about this topic because we started to talk about it a little bit on our last episode and it was a great teaser. It was a great segue into this one. So yeah, so today we’re going to talk about how cottagers can design retreats that are beautiful, comfortable, and prepared for a changing climate. >> John, let’s do the deep dive on this one. This is going to be interesting.
>> Let’s do it. So let’s start with this, James. What is passive design and why does that matter for cottage owners? Times have changed with design due to a changing climate, more extreme weather, new possibilities for materials, new sensitivity to contaminants, mold, uh, and so forth in the environment, in our interior environments. We need to re-evaluate the the way that we build and the way that we inhabit our structures. we have new options and it’s on a spectrum of even small interventions or decisions can be significant right to complete environmentally integrated design. Um I like to think that a good degree of competent environmental design would would be designing a structure that is resilient but manageable to build for most most cottage owners.
How do you take advantage of things like the sun orientation or natural air flow or other different environmental factors that are unique to that one location? How do you factor all that into the design process? In terms of designing in a way that is that is attainable for most people that makes sense. It is a matter of responding to the environment and not always in in heavy using heavy technology but just using the knowledge and the wisdom that we’ve always had about building on site and being aware of the options that we have. So when we talk about passive say versus active, passive design can be as simple as stating your function, how many rooms you want, how you want your building to be oriented, do you want sunlight in the bedrooms in the morning to start the day or do you not want that? Do you want to have views of the lake? Do you want to use your building to create a microclimate on the site so it’s not too windy or too hot? So by passive I would say the the first steps are to take the basic structure and to uh realize that we can use the layout to make the most use of not only views and and and a good flow to your building but also to orient to available sunlight block out wind.
And this reduces uh energy consumption and it creates a structure, a cottage, a house, a luxury home that works with the environment instead of working with outside considerations. This will become important when we realize the energy shave savings that we could have with say passive solar design versus heavy technology heating systems and so on. >> Okay. And so I I imagine that designing natural air flow, natural solar orientation into your design, the impact on the environment within the home relative to the environment outside of the home. So that’s where that focus is on that high performance envelope and what goes into that. >> Yeah. And it’s it’s tricky because it’s a balance of both. So there’s two trains of thought, John. One is you have the um type of environment that a lot of us might like. Big windows in the right places, smaller windows on northern exposures and so forth. Natural ventilation.
Natural ventilation is great. On the other hand, mechanical engineers typically now do not want natural ventilation because it’s harder to control the internal environment. uh they want a sealed system, heavily insulated, super high performing windows. Don’t even open them. And in order to counter that in carrier in our building code now we have uh some rules about installing heat recovery ventilators so that when we’re introducing fresh ventilation into buildings and when it’s circulating the heat is being extracted on the way out and heating air coming back into the house. Sounds second cruel. I promise this will get more interesting. Basically, we’re controlling the environment, but we need to know what we truly want for a cottage interior comfort. >> We’re setting the stage right now because this episode is focused on climate resilient cottage design and the underlying premise there is that the climate is shifting and there are changes happening every single year that are different and we’re experiencing more extreme weather, for example.
And so building for durability when we think about this and we know that there is a changing variable with the external environment where do you typically point to places in the building code for example and you say well let’s go beyond that in this area or beyond that in this area. What are some of those different examples of like areas where you advise your clients on a build to go over the top? Well, here’s where where things get interesting and they’ve changed quite a bit from the past because of changes in the climate. the demands on on on the performance of the buildings is is increasing and some of the things that are happening which we can see out there are there are more extreme weather events and this is really undeniable and just two examples here in the township we’re building in in cottage country here in in southern Ontario currently there is a allout fire band and it’s been incredibly dry if you’ve been in the north quorthas Uh you can look it up online. We’re typically in a warm summer but overall cool winter climate type of environment. It’s been incredibly dry and hot. Burnt out grass everywhere. Trees look like they’ve dropped their leaves. It’s incredible to see what’s happened over the last few months. Previously we we didn’t get this kind of um extreme weather condition. Now what they’ve what’s happening is there are fire bands with huge fines attached to them which are I think they’re necessitated because of the high risk. Very easily one can imagine somebody throwing a cigarette out or playing with fireworks at the cottage and starting forest fire.
The forest fires have started. They were very hard to put out. It’s a real risk. The risk now to owners is if we’re building the same way we did previously and your place burns down, insurance companies are not paying for fire damages or other uh quote acts of god because that’s what they view them just sort of uninsurable weather events. >> But isn’t that what you get insurance for in the first place? Um there’s now with more frequent weather uh uh events, John, I think you’d be hard hard put to find somebody to replace, you know, replace your um $1 million bill. It’s just it just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. >> Wow. >> The second big risk, John, that we saw in the winter, ice storms. So, typically the the weather was more consistent and you knew what to expect.
Now out of the blue, same township, huge winds, ice storms, branches broken everywhere, windows broken, a lot of damages. Um, and who pays for it? They you can check your insurance. Uh, they are not going to ensure those branches coming through your windows in most cases. So, we need a plan B. Thirdly, just overall in terms of having a design that is going to withstand the elements, the more extreme elements conditions that may come once or twice a year but are more farreaching and devastating. We need to build in a smarter way so that your cottage, your structure, your investment is more resilient to these events that are popping up. >> Well, that’s that’s exactly right. So, it’s if insurance isn’t going to cover it, then you need to invest in in a different kind of insurance. And that other kind of insurance is the design of your build and the materials you use in your home.
And how much like you clear away from your house to the edge of the woods, for example, is a type of insurance against wildfires. >> Yeah. just with a practical measure clearing out around your structure, materials that are used, uh various systems and backup systems. Another uh risk that we didn’t mention is now with more extreme early spring weather up in cottage country here, things will will be frozen and then all of a sudden early spring rainstorms when typically there would still be snow. The ground is still frozen, it’s raining, the water levels go up. A lot of the lakes, they’re actually on river systems and they are controlled by dams. But regardless, some of the big lakes a couple years back were completely flooded. Look at Lake Muskoka. The these are water controlled lakes somewhere in the system, they are water controlled, but in the spring the water came up. Boat houses, millions and millions of dollars of boat house damages. Water came up, ice came sheared boatous off their peers. uh it’s getting crazy and you need to have your plan B which really should be your plan A. It’s designing in a smarter way so that your your construction is more sturdy and it is more resilient to fire to rain um better insulated better heating and um ventilation systems is where it’s heading. >> So let let’s unpack that a little bit.
So, we talked about wildfires. We talked about flooding, especially recently on Lake Muscoa. Let’s start with wildfires. We talked about clearing around your cottages. What are some other practical steps that cottage owners can take to defend their structure from wildfires? >> Well, that’s that’s a great question and uh that’s where the answer to this is the direction where where things are are heading. Now, John, in in the the the most recent building code, there are measures towards incorporating better uh fire systems in in residences. There’s a move towards putting sprinklers in residences like we have it like we we have the opportunity to do that now. Why not build you know why are we building in cheap softwood for example? Should we be building in steel? Should we be coating that steel with uh intimac coating? so that if a fire starts the the coatings uh they expand and they protect the the seal from collapse and so on.
If you watch some of the the videos out there, you will see how quickly structures set ablaze. And in a lot of cases, like we’re building with big timbers, but these places have fireplaces and so on. And the the idea with big mass timbers is that when they burn, they char, but they don’t burn straight through, >> right? We have to be mindful of the materials that we’re using. The typical cottage with board siding and in a lot of cases the builder special cottages where they’re using um foam painted foam moldings. Yes, this is what they’re doing. It’s all under there painted foam or soft pine. Uh that will go up very quickly in a fire. Why are we building like that? In other places, people build in concrete, building in steel.
And we’re still building with very unresilient materials that are not going to last very long under fire conditions to the point where it almost makes it impossible in a fire for people to get out of a residence, which is just a fact. >> Yeah. And if again, if insurance isn’t going to cover these acts of God, then that needs to be factored into, you know, how else are you going to defend against it? Well, so like if you look at hurricane damages down in in Florida >> Mhm. >> they’re they’re not covered or various states have have their their own perils. >> Yeah. >> Some of the perils up here uh also include flooding. So >> everyone builds their cottage on the water. That bedrock is typically about 3 ft down on most of them with focal lace covered by sand and and silt and uh sometimes.
So what happens when the water comes up or are your footings sitting in the water and in a lot of cases low-lying cottages particularly a hint would be if you’re next to a environmentally sensitive area an EP area usually it’s a wetland area and you are sitting on lowlying land and which may or may not be permitted but in a lot of cases it’s it’s grandfathered in. So, what happens from your foundations getting wet? Some of your assembly water’s gotten in, there’s various types of of mold. I mean, it just happens. Everybody says, “Well, there’s mold everywhere in Cottage Country.” Well, uh, but we have new tools that we can use now and and things. We have more modeling and more focus on various assemblies and we can learn from what we’ve seen in the past.
But there’s more flooding now. it this happened uh it happens every year here it seems now uh in different areas too. So if your structure is getting wet your your 2×6 wall which is wrapped conveniently with polymembrane like a plastic membrane when that water comes out gets in it just doesn’t come out. Everything needs to be cut out needs to drain. And this happens so much more than you think. Uh why are we still building in that particular way? Maybe we need to re evaluate how and where where we are building. >> So let’s let’s walk down that path a little bit. So can you walk through maybe it’s different elevation strategies or drainage approaches to drainage or different materials choices especially in areas that are prone to flooding or have flooded recently maybe in recent years.
What are what are some of the different tips and tricks that how you approach that? >> Well, here’s here’s the uh here’s the the mini boot camp on how to stay out of trouble uh with with the elements up north. And the the advantage that I have uh John is just purely being on on different properties and lake systems and river systems. And really, it’s mostly practical. People feel free to agree or disagree or or add in, but they’re mostly common sense. but lead leading towards uh better design. So the first thing just in practical terms is we’re building on on lake shore lakesides, hence the name lakeside architecture inc. We’re building uh on the waterfront. Well, we can take a couple of of conditions building on the waterfront and building on on lowlying shorelines.
Do we still in this day and age, do we really need full-size basements? Oh, let’s have a basement a lockout, you know, a basement with a lockout. Well, you’re digging down still and you’re you’re pouring your your foundation. If you’re on a slope like you are in most lake sites that we’re working on, there’s water coming down the hill at the bedrock. It’s meeting your wall. So, your wall has to act like a retaining wall. Hardly anyone considers that and they don’t engineer it, but it is a retaining wall because it’s holding water back. >> Yeah. Yeah. So what we do is we’ll have weeping tile underneath the slab at three points along the wall and the possibly some pump as a backup. I don’t like to have a backup when something can be designed differently.
But this is the way people build on on the slope. So my question is building on a slope like that where car we’re removing all the top soil and all the sand and soil and whatnot. We’re all in the rock. You can pge it. Parch the bedrock and cover it. There’s different ways of doing it. It still wants to sweat. In a lot of cases, what we’ve done is we’ll put hydraulic cement on it. It [snorts] kind of it covers things up, but why do we need a basement on a cottage? We’ll think a little bit more modernly in more modern fashion uh just for a moment. And um can we put things on peers? In some ways, it makes a lot of sense. It’s faster, easier to build. You’re not holding back the water. The argument might be, well, we have the wellp pipe coming underground and we have some services so forth and so on. What I’d like to suggest is you can still have a partial service basement if you feel you need to have it.
I wouldn’t mind if you put your services in a uh separate building uh where it’s accessible, where it’s uh going to be above the ground or if you have wells and so on, the well can come directly into the space. But the first thing is let’s consider getting you off the ground. >> Mhm. Uh so just it’s a very basic uh thing. The second uh point is in terms of materials are are we still building 2 by sixes and 2x4s? Heaven forbid do never we don’t use stuckco or any of those materials. A lot of builders still do the issue with stucco is um that approach is keep the water out, seal everything like super tight so you can have your California style uh stucco build. The thing is uh that works in California in dry climates. Over here water will get in and when it gets in it can’t get out and you can try to drain your walls and you can do all sorts of waterful interventions but um it makes sense to have buildings that can breathe and drain.
So uh some options are uh we will we will build a typical cell and then can we build a rain screen around your uh for your building envelope around your your cottage meaning we’re going to strap it out. We know water’s going to want to get in and it can get in and it will run down the impervious membrane behind your cladding and it allows it to drain and it allows the the planks to dry as well. There’s a whole set of beautiful cladding approaches and details that you can look up on online. Modern rain screen cladding good way to go. We’re still uh working with wood. Wood can get wet, but it can’t stay wet. So, that is a thing. And it doesn’t want to be trapped in concealed spaces. The the third approach is should we be still relying on 2×6 construction, 2×4 construction? And the reason I put that out there is that inherently there are problems with it in cond country. Everybody does it. It’s going to be on a lot of structures. Uh the thing is water gets in and with those high humidity environments 85 80% humidity. 85% humidity 95% humidity. Check it out at your cottage in the summertime. It’s going to be like 95% humidity. Really humid. Carpenter ants get in there too. Things get moldy. Why are we still building that way? I’m heading towards building in larger timbers. It just reduces that amount of small structure. Uh performs better in a fire. I can put panels on it and then I can use cementitious panels.
So fiberboards or cement or even steel assemblies. I’m not saying that you have to do that exclusively. I’m saying that’s could be part of the discussion for your particular project. Let’s build resilient because cottage country it’s a harsher environment. It’s not the city. Four seasons, four very wholesome seasons. And what I’m discovering over the years is just a whole different challenge keeping that environment optimal. >> If I heard you right, basements are a big factor in that. Why do why need a basement and a cottage? >> You do need it. Yeah, I I wouldn’t tell anyone do it or don’t do it, but my question is um let’s put on peers. It’s easier. You’re not disrupting the site and you’re you’re not blasting and uh let’s let’s be efficient. >> Save some money at it and don’t build a damp cavity in the ground. >> That’s right. Yep. and then uh put it on peers. Was the other thing that I heard the materials that you’re using thicker timbers instead of the the the smaller pine material that’s softer, absorbs more water, is easier for insects to get in. I’m curious though, we’ve talked about it on this podcast, many of your builds are retrofits or renovations. So, I’m curious like have you had to retrofit or renovate older cottages and updated them with some of these, you know, more modern materials that are more resistant to climate changes and extreme weather. >> Well, I’ll give you an example, John.
Uh, just working on some century old structures. They’ve been renovated so many times and there’s just layers and layers of materials in the walls and the floors. And typically they weren’t insulated originally, but they were insulated at various times. But the vapor barriers weren’t built in. The vapor barrier needs to be consistent, continuous. It has to wrap around floors, the warm side of the insulation. There’s a whole series of requirements that is just not in the older structures. So when you cut into the old structures, how far do you go before it becomes a whole rebuild? And in a lot of cases there’s a lot of cutting and doingings. So fortunately on on the cottage sites if if you are keeping an existing structure in a lot of cases it makes sense to build if you’re going to build new. I like to separate things with a breezeway or a mscoa room or you can call it a coorth room if you like to do it.
I like things to be separated with their own system and that way you can stay high and dry and your new structure isn’t going to be hijacked by the shortcomingsof your old structure. Having discontinuous vapor barriers, carpenter ants, uh leaking roofs, [snorts] flashing that’s come apart at the fireplace. I’m not saying that those things should stay in place, but when we’re when we’re building, we need to make sure our new make sure our new building is at the right standards. uh is to code as a as a minimum. The building code is a minimum >> standard and that it performs correctly. It’s really hard to undo an old structure’s shortcomings. It gets complicated. >> Yeah. >> Just open up the walls in your cottage, John, and you’ll you’ll find a a whole uh a whole new world of uh of curious uh problematic construction. Oh, I I worked in construction in my early 20s and um busting apart old plaster walls and then everything that comes out from there is it can get a little nasty. >> So, yeah, >> it gets nasty. >> It does. So, I’m curious in cottage country, how often are there power outages? >> Power outages are are quite common
>> really common like it and sometimes it seems like it’s every every couple of weeks or particularly in the winter. And what what can happen, John, is during inclement weather, the ice gets on those branches and they get super heavy and then the wind starts up and the hydro is down. Uh that’s a problem if you’re running um any sort of heating systems and ventilating systems. Here in Ontario, we part of the requirement now is having a heat recovery ventilator so that your interiors are prescribed amount of air circulation and so forth. However, your the heating system and the air circulation uh it it stops when when the hy hydro stops. So, it’s important to have a generator. >> Yeah. >> Um like a backup generator and perhaps equally importantly is to have neighbors.
If you’re not at the cottage regularly, have neighbors that are in the know, can tell you when the when the power’s down, can help out. There are handy people close by that’ll get your generator started up again. Of course, now everything’s automated as well. So, you can go, we can set you up on on the software and you can check your place and see what’s happening. All of a sudden, is it really cold? Well, maybe the power went out if it’s winter or somebody broke in, windows are open. >> Yeah. So everything can be done remotely, but there’s a common sense, practical, everyday level of checking on things and having someone there that can check up on a backup generator. Might not sound super exciting, but that’s how 90% of power issues are are taken care of, particularly in the winter college country. I ask because of all of these changing factors in the external environment, more wildfires, more storms, rising tides on the river systems and the lakes, you know, that that can lead to more power outages. >> The storms that are coming up are like the winter winds are just crazy.
So, I’ve done projects on and involved in projects on uh Georgian Bay, the east shore of Lake Simco picks up a lot of wind. um Bay Quinty currently and the the the wind that comes across is just going to blow that pretty uh standing seam metal roof. It is coming off. It’s coming off in the winter. I can almost guarantee it. I’ll give you an example on our May of Queenie project. The the standing seam metal roof is being brake framed on site where the custom clip and then tightened with a special tool super tight. So the these roofs are not going to lift. As soon as a little bit of window, a little bit of wind gets underneath it wants to lift like half the roof. So it’s a matter of of knowing some of those details. Also in terms of of windows, those big beautiful oversized windows that you’re going to put on your island and Georgian Bay. Well, when that wind comes up, it’s bad enough as it is.
But now with the more extreme events, these very unreasonable gale come in and what they tend to do is they push on the glass on big window areas and and they make it deflect. And once that deflects and the glass touches the other pane, that glass wants to shatter. >> Mhm. >> That’s the reason on the on the big window units, typically they require it to be tempered glass or or laminated glass. But nine times out of 10 when I check out somebody’s place and I look for the little CSA marking on there for tempered glass, I’m not finding it. >> So people are not are are not building in a way that’s aware of these environmental challenges. Now to complicate things when you have that your your your big opening the wall on top there’s some deflection over a over a long span.
So the wall is pushing down above. And it’s not only that it’s pushing down on your window, like if you have a big snow load. So the wind is bringing in a lot of snow and it’s all it’s pushing down, but if there’s a little bit of wall underneath or above your window, let’s say underneath, the wind is blowing on it and it’s a 2×6 underneath supporting a whole stretch of the window. It’s not going to blow out or anything, but it’s going to twist and rack, which wrecks your windows and then your seals go. When people wonder, well, how come there’s condensations in the windows now? Or how come there’s a hair hairline crack? So, uh, one detail that we’ll use is we’ll use a thermally broken steel plate and that can be half an inch even to 3/4 in underneath on the big windows for this lateral movement. Now, this isn’t the deflection that the engineers will caution you about. This is from the field. Like this is from knowing in the winter that there’s also additional force that people don’t expect where the wind is blowing wanting to bend the window frame this way. >> I didn’t even think about the wind especially, you know, and then the way that the if you have those big bay windows and how the way that the wind makes it want to bend.
So tempered glass reinforced underneath with a steel beam instead of those 2 by sixes >> with a steel plate on the flat. >> So that additional little force >> like this is what this is what happens in the field. >> But the these are all things that like you mentioned earlier an engineer might not mention but you have the experience from building in these environments and being exposed to the elements the way that you have. you have this, you’re able to help communicate that with your clients who want to build. >> Well, now and and now that you know, you can you can go, of course, you can go to your engineering and you can calculate uh you get them to do the calculations and seal off on these additional forces.
From my experience, it’s just not obvious and you learn it from being uh from being in the field. It’s just there are additional growing challenges. And while replacing cedar siding can be a pain in the butt, it’s definitely not as bad as replacing one of those bay windows. Let me tell you that. >> Well, John, when uh when when owners are building, one of the first things they ask about is um uh longevity of materials. >> Yeah. >> They they want low maintenance. They want things to last. Of course, there are all sorts of materials out there. Well, let’s um you know, let’s use steel panels. Well, let’s use a panel with a a particular finish on them. This is what solid is used. This has been used on a prominent building. Have a look around. Drive through the city. Look at condos, bank buildings. A lot of them are detailed really well and they’re lasting. There are a lot of condo buildings in the city, for example.
And you can see these the panels that they have, the steel panels, the the kind of coating on that they have on them is already faded and you don’t get your money back. It seems like there are warranties out there, but realistically, if you have to deal with warranties, insurance companies, you may be on the hook at a certain point. You might find um you’re told, well, you know, was the installation, it was the delivery, it was this, it was that. At the end of the day, if you’re putting on a material, a new material, it has to have a bit of a track record. Five or six years of project in the field is not a bad start. >> Yeah. regardless of the claims of new materials and materials that are don’t have certifications on Ontario, they’re very suspect. They they they have to have their approvals here. They have to have their their uh building materials evaluations, BMAX and so forth in Ontario. They have to be uh legit.
Here’s a challenge. when you’re out there and all of a sudden you’re getting windows. They’re discounted incredibly and they’re coming in from uh various locations around the globe. Well, they don’t have the uh the certifications. It’s on the glass. Well, now uh people on the black market buy them, put on the certifications, >> nobody checks. >> And how will this perform? The answer is in small areas probably possibly okay. In larger areas, they do not perform. And this is why additional measures need to be taken. The reason I’m saying this is that cheap vinyl windows are not going to necessarily going to be your friend. You need performance >> and per performance may cost more money, but the big deals that are out there, they may not perform very well in an environment. >> Very good. Well, for folks that are listening to this episode, for folks that are watching on YouTube, and resiliency in your cottage design is important to you, um, make sure that you factor that into when you’re communicating your dream design to your architect. And James, you have a design your dream home guide available on lakeside architecture.ca. If folks that are listening to this are watching this and they do want to incorporate more um resiliency into their design, how is the best way for them to communicate that using this guide? >> Well, John, here’s here’s um what might work for your viewers? You can get on to latearchchitecture.ca and the guide is there.
The guide was developed to help you as the owner organize your own ideas. It’s not going to give you ideas, but it will help you organize your own ideas. Uh, then I would recommend while you’re going through that process, get on our social media. You’ll see projects that are that are going up currently. And the way I I’ve uh dealt uh John uh ultimately with this whole uh resilient design is you you’ll see it on the projects. So, I like to uh to build on peers. I use concrete when I can. I use big timbers. Uh they’re actually perform really well.
They’re fireresistant. They are sturdy and they are beautiful. Uh instead of wood siding, I’ve turned to really interesting materials such as cork weathering steel channels. You can see it on on the project builds there. Really beautiful material. It will uh rust to a certain degree and then it has this weathered patina look on it. The thing that clients love about the material is that it has a feeling of character and over time it will look better and better. If you find that it’s weathering too much, there are retardants that you can put on it. If it’s not weathering fast enough, there are accelerators, but you can control the appearance of it. And once that stabilizes, it stabilizes. It’s not going to look worse than 10 years. It takes a beating from the elements. It’s modern and cool and it works really well in cottage country.
Do a lot of um concrete. I’ll get concrete from a local quarry. We crush it, put it into concrete mix with Portland cement. You get a beautiful floors that we can embed hydronic in for radiant heating into uh warm on the feet, beautiful to the eye, resilient structures, concrete, timbers, glass, steel. It’s time to move on to sturdier structures. Compare with your own notes with the guide. You can look up some of these materials independently online, but it will be exciting and it will give you it’ll uh help you with your next steps toward developing your own materials that are beautiful to you, but will be resilient and maybe even look better over the course of time.
>> Excellent. Get inspired and follow Lakeside Architecture on Instagram, on LinkedIn, on on all the other social media channels. Uh subscribe to the show on YouTube. Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. And James, thank you so much for this conversation. I learned a ton about how cottagers can defend against floods and wildfires and gale forest winds. Um, this has been a a fantastic episode and and a fantastic series. Thank you. >> Thanks, John. And uh to all the viewers, uh have fun and check it out. Leight architecture.ca. Thank you.
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