If you run a hand down your siding and it comes away with a white chalky residue, that is oxidation. The sun has broken down the surface of the material itself. This matters because it sets a hard limit on what any cleaning can achieve, and it is worth knowing before someone sells you a result they cannot deliver.
UV exposure degrades the polymer at the surface of vinyl, and pigment and binder break down into a loose powder. That powder is the chalk on your hand. It is not dirt that landed there, it is the siding itself coming apart at a microscopic level, which is why west and south elevations are always worse than north ones.
Soft washing at $0.18 per square foot removes the loose chalk along with dirt and organic growth, and the wall genuinely looks better afterwards. What it cannot do is put pigment back. Under the chalk is faded siding, and cleaning reveals that rather than reversing it.
Pressure washing oxidised vinyl strips more of the degraded surface and can leave a blotchy result where some areas came away more than others. It also forces water up behind the courses. Trying harder produces a worse and more uneven appearance, not a better one.
Cleaning to remove chalk and growth, accepting the faded colour, is the low-cost route and often looks fine. Beyond that, vinyl can be painted with the correct products or replaced, and both are genuine projects rather than cleaning. Any company promising to restore colour with a wash is describing something that does not happen.
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Oxidation. UV has broken down the surface polymer, and the chalk is degraded pigment and binder rather than dirt.
No. It removes the chalk and reveals the faded siding underneath. Colour cannot be washed back in.
Sun exposure. West and south elevations take far more UV, so they oxidise faster than north-facing walls.
No. It strips more of the degraded surface and can leave a blotchy, uneven result, as well as forcing water behind the courses.
Clean and accept the fade, paint with products formulated for vinyl, or replace. Cleaning alone will not change the colour.
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