The portal and the red switches

This has been bugging me:

Clark “activated” the portal to the Backrooms when he flipped those red switches, right?

But most of the explanations for how Pirate Clark existed earlier say that Clark was living close to the portal (or null zone) 24/7 for a long time. So the portal existed before he flipped the red switches?

The best explanation I can think of is that the portal Clark steps through isn’t the original null zone. Perhaps the breaker box itself was a null zone that allowed the red switches to bleed through from the Backrooms. And this might explain how Async’s surveillance footage made it onto Clark’s TV.

So, a small null zone appears in the electrical work of Clark’s store. The Backrooms then has access to Clark and the store, resulting in Pirate Clark, furniture, throne, etc. But it also responds to Clark’s desire for isolation and to get away from the real world. And it responds by manifesting the conveniently man-sized portal complete with tantalizing glow, and the switches that enable routing power to it.