Why do Florida homes have so much tile?

[hesitantbride]

Sorry for the silly question, but it something that has bothered me.  I can get it in the sense that homes by the beach have tile for easy clean up, but from watching House Hunters it seems that all Florida houses have lots of tile.  Why is this?  There are alternatives to tile, like wood.  Is it termites?  Can someone please educate me as to why this seems to be a regional difference.

[tarheels]

It's too humid for wood. Have you ever been?  Your hair curls just getting off the plane.  Six months out of the year, you get "heat storms" - rainshowers from humidity in the afternoon around 3, so the humidity stays incredibly high all the time.

And it is impractical - everybody has a pool in their backyard - everybody.  On my grandparents' block of 20 homes, there's 1 without a pool.  In my aunt's neighborhood, the covenants say you have to have a pool. You're constantly coming in from the lanai into the house for something dripping wet.

Florida is the tropics - it's a different lifestyle, even when populated by geriatric New Yorkers . Just like Arts & Crafts furniture would be out of place, so is W2W and HW. (Though many people do have W2W in bedrooms.)  You don't question tile in Hawaii or Jamaica or Mexico - same thing - it is a regional difference

[justinlove]

Tar Heels nailed it...humidity, water and sand. Tile is a practical choice.

[aimeedyan]

It's so when you come in from walking to your mailbox (and are now dripping with sweat) you can lay on the cold tile and cool off.

[pamela]

Definitely humidity and sand. We have tile in all the main areas of our house and while I didn't think I'd like it at first, I've come to love it for how easy it is to keep clean (except the grout). With dogs tracking sandy dirt in from outside, wood floors would have been toast and I don't want to imagine carpet.

[sju]

It seems like HH stays in the southern region. I live in north FL and I very rarely see houses that have tiles in all main areas. Here you see tiles in kitchens and baths.  Hardwood floors are very common and so is carpet even though it is super humid outside during warm weather.  You also see lots of fireplaces.  We have one. 

Like pps said, tiles are very practical. I grew up in the Caribbean where tiles and reinforced concrete homes are the norm and it was sooo easy to clean. You can hose walls and floors without fear of damaging anything. 

[meemz]

It is irritating that there is so much tile, but it does make it easier to maintain. It is better than carpet I suppose if you have pets. I finally found an apartment with hardwood, which makes it so much easier to clean with a cat and dog. Plus I love the look of hardwood.

[Deleted]

Everyone pretty much hit it.

It's also the same reason up here in the Northland kitchens and entryways are tile/vinyl and you find hardwoods in the LR/bedroom areas. Snow, salt rain, mud, general slop reek havoc on floors.

It's also why all the entry ways here have heavy duty industrial looking floor mats. I cringe inside a little bit everytime I see someone post an expensive, well styled rug in their entry. No one here does that because we'd all hate to see what'd it look like after one run through winter/spring here.