Pink House's Annual Fortification Has Begun

In the fall of 2015, concerned citizens began to express how meaningful The Pink House was to the community to its owners the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Many of those people went on to form Support The Pink House (STPH) to work with the FWS to find solutions to restore it. In the interim, the Parker River Wildlife Refuge Manager worked with STPH to protect it from the elements through each year, shoring it up for storms and winter in particular.

In the first week of February 2016, STPH had our first house walk through with Pink House Advisor Bill Barrett, a local, trusted, and very experienced HIC/CSL licensed builder. From the tip of the cupola to the basement floor, we were pleasantly surprised to learn The Pink House envelope was in great shape. There were no leaks from the roof, no cracks in the foundation, all the windows were completely aligned and it was not riddled with mold.

However, the windows, broken by time or pranksters while uninhabited, needed to be properly sealed and the basement had a low opening or two where animals could get in.  We appealed to Refuge Manager Bill Peterson, to take care of these most basic things, and he did.

Since then, regular house health checks have been performed. Each time a little more gets done, and each winter The Pink House weathers our famously wild New England storms.  With windows sealed, a house needs doors to be regularly open and shut. Fish and Wildlife Security goes in from time to time and we hope it helps.

In the Spring  of 2017, we asked that the vegetation within about 3 ft of the house be cut away to allow the house to breathe, and for sun to dry formerly covered places. We know clearing brush made the house's need of new paint more evident, but it was much healthier for it overall. 

KEEPING TPH RESILIENT
Remember the three Nor'Easters we had in a row earlier this year? The ones that came during a full moon, unusually high astronomical tides and with one storm moving so slowly that the tides did not have a chance to recede for three cycles while it poured?  The entire PI Pike flooded over -- and as the Beachcoma's heavy trash bins floated toward the PI Grille and water lapped at the foundation of every building from PITA Hall to the dozen or so houses across from the Pink House in Plum Bush Downs, we wondered how much of the Pink House's basement may have filled with water. Not only was some dry ground visible around the house's edges, Barrett inspected the house once the storms passed and was happy to find evidence of only about an additional inch or tow in the form of a water mark on the basement wall, above the normally damp floor.  

The was built in 1925, and its clear they knew how to make 'em back then. But without inhabitants to care for it daily, The Pink House depends on this critical help by the Refuge while we work together on solutions. 

NEXT STEPS
It's high tide's peak as today another Nor Easter whips 60 mph winds across the marsh,  yet we have confidence the Pink House will endure this storm and the coming winter, as it has in each of the last 90 some years. Why? Because after our meeting in mid-September, the Refuge is kindly doing more extensive preventative work, which includes:

• preempting the spread of mold by washing down specific area walls with Concrobium
• sealing floor grates with plastic to prevent any damp basement air infiltrating the living areas
• ventilating the basement by installing a soffit vent in the boarded up basement window by the front porch door
• filling any holes around the building base to reasonably discourage small animals from entering the structure
• fully open  or remove the front porch blinds to make window appearance consistent

They have already patched the holes forming in the porch skirting with white hardboard - which you can now see in the photo below. Since it is the front of the house that the public so enjoys , we're hoping can be painted to look more uniform. ​

While most of this month's improvements by the Refuge can't be seen from the street, the patching of the front skirt can be. We have asked that the entire base skirt be painted white to look uniform.

While all would love to see her with a fresh paint job, a new roof and with flowers and thriving berry bushes around the perimeter. We're working on it - and until then, keep in mind that her bones are good, and the basics of continually securing the envelope is being done.  

​Please let the Refuge know how much you and the community appreciates it!