Future-Proof Your Lakeside Cottage Against Extreme Weather

Climate change is reshaping cottage country, and architect James Pitropov explains what that means for how we design and build lakeside homes. Drawing on years of field experience across Muskoka, Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe, and the Kawarthas, James breaks down the real risks owners are now facing—wildfires, flooding, ice storms, gale-force winds, and power outages—and why traditional building methods are no longer enough.

James shares practical strategies for passive design, high-performance envelopes, and material choices that dramatically improve durability. He explains why owners should reconsider basements, how pier-based construction can reduce long-term risk, and why thicker timbers, rain-screen assemblies, and cementitious cladding can outperform conventional cottage materials. He also reveals field-tested details—like reinforcing oversized windows and choosing the right glazing—that engineers often overlook.

This is a must-listen for anyone planning to build or renovate in cottage country. James offers a roadmap for creating cottages that are comfortable, efficient, and truly resilient in an era of extreme weather.

Learn more at https://lakesidearchitecture.ca/

Transcript

James 0:00

typically the, the weather was more consistent and you knew what to expect. Now out of the blue, seeing township huge winds, ice storms. Branches broken everywhere. Windows broken a lot of damages. And who pays for it?

0:16

You are listening to Build the Unbuildable, a podcast about designing dream cottages on some of the most challenging sites in Ontario's cottage country.

John 0:25

All right. Welcome back to another episode of Build the Unbuildable. I'm John Tieman, and as always, I'm joined by James ov, 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 gonna talk about how Cottagers can design retreats that are beautiful, comfortable, and prepared for a changing climate.

James 0:58

John, let's do the deep dive on this one. This is gonna be interesting.

John 1:01

Let's do it. So, let's start with this, James. What is passive design and why does that manage for cottage owners?

James 1:10

times have changed with design due to a changing climate more extreme. Weather, new possibilities for materials, new sensitivities to, contaminants, mold, uh, and so forth in the environment. In our interior environments, we need to reevaluate the, the way that we build and,, the way that we inhabit 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?

John 2:03

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?

James 2:19

In terms of designing 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 float for your building, but also to orient to available sunlight, blockout, 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 sha savings that we can have with see passive solar design versus. Heavy technology, heating systems and so on.

John 4:00

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 where that focus is on that high performance envelope. And what goes into that?

James 4:22

Yeah, and it is, it is 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 Ontario, 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 in heating. Air coming back into the house. Sounds technical. I promise this will get more interesting. Basically, we're controlling the environment, but we need to know, what we truly want for our cottage interior comfort.

John 5:33

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. where you advise your clients on a bill to go over the top.

James 6:21

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 there's two examples here in the township. We're building an in cottage country here in, in Southern Ontario. currently there is a all out fire ban. And it's been incredibly dry. If you've been in the north Kawarthas, 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 bans with huge, fines, attached to them, which are, I think they're necessitated because at the high risk, very easily, one can imagine somebody throwing a cigarette out or playing with fireworks at the cottage and starting a forest fire. The forest fires have started. They're 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. cause that's what they view them, just sort of uninsurable, weather events.

John 8:05

isn't that what you get insurance for in the first place?

James 8:08

um. There's now with more frequent rather 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, it just doesn't seem like it's gonna happen. 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, seeing 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, uh, 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 far reaching 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.

John 9:20

Well, that's, that's exactly right. So it's, if insurance isn't gonna 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.

James 9:43

Yeah, just 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 will still be snow. Uh, 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 of 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, water came up, boat houses, millions and millions of dollars of boathouse damages. Water came up, ice came, sheared, boat hose off their piers. 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.

John 11:02

So let, let's unpack that a little bit. So we talked about wildfires, we talked about, flooding, especially recently on Lake Muskoka. 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?

James 11:24

Well that, that's, that's a great question and. Uh, that's what 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, You 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 coating that steel with, uh, intumescent coating so that if a fire starts, the, the coatings, uh, they expand and they protect the, for the steel from collapse and so on. if you watch some of the, the videos, out there, you'll 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. 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 building concrete, building steel, and we're still building. With very un resilient materials that are, not going to last very long under, uh, fire conditions to the point where it almost makes it impossible in a fire for people to get out of a, a residence, which is just a fact.

John 13:12

Yeah, and if insur, again, if insurance isn't gonna cover these acts of God, then that that needs to be factored into, you know, how else are you going to defend against It

James 13:21

Well, like if, if you look at, hurricane damages down in, in Florida, they're, they're not covered or various states have, have their their own, perils. Some of the perils up here, uh, also include flooding, so Everyone builds their cottage, on the water. That bedrock is typically about three feet down on most of the Muskoka lakes covered by sand and, and silt. And, uh, sometimes, what happens when the water comes up or your footing's sitting in the water? And, in a lot of cases, low lying cottages, particularly a, 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 low lying 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's getting wet, and your, your two by six wall, which is wrapped conveniently with, Poly membrane, like a plastic membrane, when that water comes out, gets in, it just doesn't come out. Everything needs to be cut out. It 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. Uh.

John 15:12

So let, let's, let's walk down that path a little bit. So. Can you walk through maybe its 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

James 15:38

Well, here's, here's the, uh, here's the, the mini bootcamp on how to stay out of trouble, uh, 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, 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, lake size. 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 low lying shorelines. do we still, in this day and age, do we really need, uh, full-sized basements? Well, 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. The lake sites that, 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'cause it's holding water back. So what we do is we'll have weeping tile underneath the slab at three points along the wall and possibly some pumps 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 we're carve where we're removing all the top soil and, and all the sand and soil and whatnot, we're all on the rock. You can parge it, barge to 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, uh, hydraulic cement on it. It kind of co, 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 piers? 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, the well 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, gonna be above the ground or if you have wells and so on. The well can come directly into the But the first thing is let's consider getting you off the ground. Uh, so just, it's a very basic, uh, thing. The second, uh, point is. In terms of materials are, are we still building two by sixes and two by fours? Heaven forbid, do never, we don't use stucco 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, um, stucco, uh, build. The thing is. Uh, that works in California, in dry climbings 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 wonderful interventions, but, um, it makes sense to have buildings that can breathe and drain. So, uh, some options are, uh, we will build a typical shell. And then can we build a rain screen around your, uh, for your building on vol around your, your cottage, meaning we're gonna drop it out. We know water's gonna wanna 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 and concealed, spaces. the, the third, approach is should we be still relying on two by six construction? Two by four construction? and the reason I put that out there is that inherently there are problems with it. In cottage country. Everybody does it. It's gonna 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 gonna be like 95% humidity. Really humid carpenter ants get in there too. Things get moldy. Why are we still building that way? I'm tending 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 fiberboard 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 fulsome seasons, and. What I'm discovering over the years is just a whole different challenge, keeping that environment, optimum.

John 21:09

If I heard you right, basements are a big factor in that. Why do, why need a basement and

James 21:15

Yeah. Do you need it? Like, uh, I, I wouldn't tell anyone do it or don't do it, but my question is, um. Let's put it, on piers. 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, uh, cavity in the ground.

John 21:33

That's right. Yep. And then, uh, put it on piers 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

James 22:04

Yeah, w

John 22:04

them with some of these, you know, more modern materials that are more resistant to climate changes and extreme weather?

James 22:11

well, I'll give you an example, John. Uh, just working on, uh, some Century, old structures. They've been renovated so many times and there's just layers and layers of materials, uh, 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 installation, 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 doing 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 gonna build new, I like to separate things with a breezeway or a muskoka room, or you can call it a cowart's room if you. I 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 shortcomings of your old structure. Having discontinuous vapor barriers, carpenter ants, uh, leaking roofs flashing, that's come apart at the, fireplace. And I'm not saying that those things should stay in place. But when we're, when we're building, we need to make that 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, shortcomings. It gets complicated. Just open up the walls in your cottage, John, and you'll, you'll find a, a, a whole, uh, a whole new world of, uh. Of curious, uh, problematic construction.

John 24:04

Oh, I, I worked in construction in my early twenties and, um, busting apart old plaster walls and then everything that comes out from there is it, it can get a little nasty, so.

James 24:16

Hey, gets messy.

John 24:18

it does. so, I'm curious in cottage country, how often are there power outages?

James 24:24

power outages? are, are quite common, like very, very common. I get 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 ventilation systems here in Ontario, we, part of the requirement now is having, 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 Thehy hydro stops. So. it's important to have a generator,

John 25:15

Yeah.

James 25:16

um, like a backup generator and, perhaps e 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 they, when power's down can help out. There are handy people close by. That'll get your generator started up again, of, of course, now. everything's automated as well, so you can know, uh, 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 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 in college country.

John 26:12

I ask because of all of these changing factors in the external environment, more wildfires, more storms, rising, tides on the river, systems in the lakes, you know that that can lead to more power outages

James 26:27

the storms that are coming up are like, the winter winds are just crazy. So I've done projects on, and I'm involved in projects on, uh, Georgian Bay. The East shore of Lake Simco picks up a lot of wind, um, bay Quinte currently. and the, the, the wind that comes across is just going to blow the pretty, uh, standing sea metal roof. It is coming off. It is coming off in the winter. I can almost guarantee it. I'll give you an example on, on our May of Queenie project. There are the standing sea metal roof is being break framed on site for the custom. clip and then tightened with a special tool. Super tight. So these, these roofs are not gonna 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 gonna 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 deflect and the glass touches the other pane, that glass wants to shatter. 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 they check out somebody's place and they 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 the, 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 two by six underneath supporting a whole stretch of the window. It's not gonna blow out or anything, but it's gonna twist and rock, which wrecks your windows. And then your seals go and people wonder, well, how come there's condensations in the windows now? Or how come there's a hair, uh, 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 three quarters of inches 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 an additional force that people don't expect where the wind is blowing, wanting to bend the window frame this way.

John 29:28

Hmm. 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 wanna bend. So tempered glass, reinforced underneath with a steel, beam instead of those two by

James 29:45

Was was the steel plate on the flat. So that additional little force, like this is what, this is what happens in the field.

John 29:52

But the, these, 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

James 30:09

Well, 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 know, get'em 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.

John 30:31

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, lemme tell you that.

James 30:40

Well. Okay. Yeah. John, when, uh, when, when, when owners are building, one of the first things they ask about is, um, uh, longevity of materials. 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. Let's use, uh, panels with a, a particular finish on them. this is what so and steel has 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 a coding on that they have on them is already faded you don't get your money back. it seems like there are warranties out there, but realistically, if you have to deal with warranties and insurance companies, you may be on the hook at a certain point. you might find, um, you're told, well, you know, it 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 projects in the field is not a bad start.

John 31:55

Yeah,

James 31:56

Regardless of the claims of new materials and materials that are, don't have certifications on Ontario. They're very suspect 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,

John 32:38

Oh no.

James 32:39

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, uh, need to be taken. The reason I'm saying this is that, chief vinyl windows are not going to necessarily gonna be your friend. you need performance. And performance may cost more money, but the big deals that are out there, they may not perform very well in our environment.

John 33:09

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 or watching this and they do want to incorporate more, um, resiliency into their design, how was the best way for them to communicate that using this guide.

James 33:46

Well, John, here's, here's, um, what might work for your viewers. You can get onto Lakeside Architecture, do ca and the 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've, I've, uh, dealt, uh, John, uh, ultimately with this whole, uh, resilient design is you'll, you'll see it in the projects. So I like to, uh, uh, to build on peers. I'll use concrete when it can. I use big timbers. Uh, they're actually perform really well. They're fire resistant, they are sturdy, and they're beautiful. Uh, instead of wood siding, I've turned to really interesting materials such as corten, 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 patent, a look on it. The thing that clients love about the material is that it has the 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 inflow, 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 it 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, it it'll, uh, help you with your next steps to, we're developing your own materials that are beautiful to you, but will be resilient and maybe even look better over the course of time.

John 36:15

Excellent. Well 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, uh, 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.

James 36:47

Thanks John and, uh, to all the viewers, uh, have fun and check it out lakeside architecture.ca. Thank you.