[doggiebus]

I was just going to say, keep your windows shut, change your A/C filter monthly and take your shoes off at the door. That should all help to keep your floors cleaner.

[lynnsegura]

Seriously, I have the same complaint in Naples and now in Clearwater, both known for their white sandy beaches! It is not sand. Tile floors are dirty (black staining dirty) a couple of days after mopping. Never seen anything like it! Due allergies, house is normally closed up with A/C on. It's crazy..........

[Compression]

I detail larger boats for a living in SW Florida, over twenty years.......

The fine black dust is a constant. Some areas it is thicker than others.

I have heard several theories. Back when there was a coal burning FPL plant upriver from Fort Myers it was worse. They did away with that maybe ten years or so ago. Still the black dust persists.

I think it is a combination of sources, but likely it is simply soot, or ash. How heavy it falls on your corner of the world is dependent upon which way the wind blows. You have burning cane fields, this time of year, plenty of brush fires, small and large, heavy jet aircraft traffic, and of course ever increasing numbers of cars on the roads. Add to that the continuously shifting wind directions every day by virtue of being a peninsula and the "sea breeze" that comes with it, all that pollution is deposited where ever. The phosphate mines in the center of the state are said to leave an occasional fine dusting of nearly translucent dust, that, along with the UV from the sun, contributes to the destruction of the paint finish on the horizontal surfaces of your car.

It's all just part of the price of living in paradise.

CN.......

[StarfishKey]

I don't have a problem with the dirt, but I find the water in SFL absolutely disgusting. Water CLEANS things where I come from. Here, it is the thing you have to constantly clean. If water accumulates on a sink, or in a tub, it stains the area pink (Miami) or yellow (Keys), and gets very slimy, like bacteria. In the shower, it burns your eyes like acid. The whole idea turns my stomach. I would rather clean black soot any day with actual clean water, than have to deal with water that is itself totally filthy. Water should be clear, and it should dry clear. It should not have a color, it should not build up a film, and it should not be slimy. It should also not be white. It should dry, and nothing should be left. I should not have to clean all my surfaces, and then when they are dry clean them again to clean them from the cleaning. Floridians can say whatever they want about the NE not being better, at least water up there was CLEAR and had no smell, and didn't hurt if it got in your eyes! Water used to be the thing that made my home clean, not the thing that made it dirty. I am amazed that people down here just accept it, and don't demand better water quality.

[Spring Hillian]

Generally, NE water comes down from mountains which feed reservoirs. Since the mountain water moves pretty fast on its down hill trip there isnt a whole lot of minerals being added along the way.

FL water comes from the aquifer. The water gets to the aquifer by filtering down through the ground and limestone so it is saturated with minerals. Ive never seen slimy tap water but of course experienced the film (limestone and calcium) that is left behind after the water evaporates. I would think different areas in FL have different geology that would affect the chemistry of the water.

Have you had your tap water tested by a lab? Find out what is in it and then take the necessary steps to remove the troublesome elements. A water filter installed between the water meter and the house or a water softener may solve the problem.

Chemicals added by local water suppliers like chlorine and fluoride may interact with the naturally occurring elements in the water as well producing unwanted effects.

Originally Posted by StarfishKey

I don't have a problem with the dirt, but I find the water in SFL absolutely disgusting. Water CLEANS things where I come from. Here, it is the thing you have to constantly clean. If water accumulates on a sink, or in a tub, it stains the area pink (Miami) or yellow (Keys), and gets very slimy, like bacteria. In the shower, it burns your eyes like acid. The whole idea turns my stomach. I would rather clean black soot any day with actual clean water, than have to deal with water that is itself totally filthy. Water should be clear, and it should dry clear. It should not have a color, it should not build up a film, and it should not be slimy. It should also not be white. It should dry, and nothing should be left. I should not have to clean all my surfaces, and then when they are dry clean them again to clean them from the cleaning. Floridians can say whatever they want about the NE not being better, at least water up there was CLEAR and had no smell, and didn't hurt if it got in your eyes! Water used to be the thing that made my home clean, not the thing that made it dirty. I am amazed that people down here just accept it, and don't demand better water quality.

[CTC]

we get some sand/grit on the floors (North Port), but it sweeps up easily. Have not seen any of the dirt the OP complaining about. Way less dust in FL than where we have our main residence out West in Montana.

Our slate/and laminate floors clean up so easy, love not having carpet to vacuum!

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

Generally, NE water comes down from mountains which feed reservoirs. Since the mountain water moves pretty fast on its down hill trip there isnt a whole lot of minerals being added along the way.

FL water comes from the aquifer. The water gets to the aquifer by filtering down through the ground and limestone so it is saturated with minerals. Ive never seen slimy tap water but of course experienced the film (limestone and calcium) that is left behind after the water evaporates. I would think different areas in FL have different geology that would affect the chemistry of the water.

Have you had your tap water tested by a lab? Find out what is in it and then take the necessary steps to remove the troublesome elements. A water filter installed between the water meter and the house or a water softener may solve the problem.

Chemicals added by local water suppliers like chlorine and fluoride may interact with the naturally occurring elements in the water as well producing unwanted effects.

Good points, I am just tired of having to mitigate for so many different issues! Florida is a lot of work! And I am cranky today and don't feel like having to deal with it... I don't want to spend money on water filters now on top of the rest. But I do want my house to be clean.

Be happy, those of you who have tile floors. The idiot who owned my house previously installed all new bamboo floors in every room of the house, which would have been a nice idea up North, but down here inevitably with all the sand and grit and tiny rocks (and also my dog's nails, which he insists on stretching out repeatedly when he lays down and scraping the floors as he does so) got scratched all to hell. I would have loved to have tile, which is so much more practical in coastal Florida, but I did not feel comfortable replacing all-new flooring, which I'm sure was just included in the cost of house purchase. People told me bamboo was strong wood - they were so very wrong! It's very soft, and you can't sand it down because there is actually more glue used holding it together than bamboo, and the glue has formaldehyde (cancer-causing) in it which seeps into your air for roughly 2 years after each exposure. Sometimes I hate the prior owner for all the dumb decisions they made in the interior of this house, as well as in the landscaping. It is so much work to redo everything, and I feel really uncomfortable about removing things that they paid good money for or are brand new, because it is such a waste. But this person was just not practical in almost any of the decisions made, for appliances, or almost anything.

I assume people reading this thread in the future will be people considering Florida living, and so I caution you while you're considering the issue of cleaning possible black stuff off of your floors, to also consider the water you'll be clean it with, and the floor you're cleaning it off of! My personal thoughts are that SFL has water that is bright creepy colors, and that bamboo floors are totally impractical for any house near the ocean and/or in a hurricane zone! But in SFL I don't see black soot, just a ton of brown dust that falls from the sky that is apparently sand from dust storms in the Sahara (really!) that gets carried over here with heavy cross-ocean winds. It accumulates on cars, so if you don't find a way to cover your vehicle you'll need to wipe the film off every day, at least so you can see out the windshield clearly. It's not pollen, it's Saharan sand.

[Rabflmom]

Wow, I guess I live in the right part of Florida. We have carpet and tile in our house. The entryway is tile so everyone leaves their shoes there. We go to the beach almost everyday so we do bring in sand. I quit buying the expensive vacuums years and years ago when I realized they didn't pick up the sand better or last any longer than a $50 vacuum. I figure if I buy a $50 one every couple a years it takes a long time to reach the $800 for a descent one that still only lasted 3 years.

We have wonderful green grass growing in the front and back yard that keeps the dirt from our yard in tact so we don't get black feet walking even out in the yard. Years ago we had a marl road out front and if the windows were open you got a lot of dust in that house. We don't have houses going up close to us now so that eleviates some of the dust and critters coming into the yard.

We have city water and it is nice and clear, doesn't leave any residue, or turn our sinks or stool pink or yellow. We do not use bleach at all because we have a septic tank but the whites stay white. One way to counteract the discoloring of white from well water and the black the OP was having trouble with is to hang the whites out in the sun and that will keep them bright white.

Well water at the other house we own would turn the toilet bowl yellow if you didn't clean it regularly, though even after we added the expensive house filter for the well water. We also had to add clorine to it to make it not smell-not that it was the horrible sulphor smell like the old wells in the 70s. We were able to switch to city water there this year, too so all is good. I am not a real fan of the flavor of water here, but it isn't as bad as some I have had elsewhere . Even my hometown water up North tastes funny to me now.

[annerk]

This seems really strange. I have three large breed dogs and do not experience these problems.

I dust mop tile and spot clean with a Swiffer daily, vacuum carpets every other day (mid-range Hoover that I think was around $150--it's 10 years old), and do a full sweep and mop (with a mop and bucket, not the Swiffer once a week--more if needed. Carpets get fully Rug Doctored monthly and spot cleaned with the Rug Doctors every 7-14 days in the high traffic/dog drool areas.

Maybe you just need to clean more often?

[Florida or Bust....]

Originally Posted by annerk

This seems really strange. I have three large breed dogs and do not experience these problems.

I dust mop tile and spot clean with a Swiffer daily, vacuum carpets every other day (mid-range Hoover that I think was around $150--it's 10 years old), and do a full sweep and mop (with a mop and bucket, not the Swiffer once a week--more if needed. Carpets get fully Rug Doctored monthly and spot cleaned with the Rug Doctors every 7-14 days in the high traffic/dog drool areas.

Maybe you just need to clean more often?

And I thought I had OCD! Annerk, this made me tired just reading this. You can come to my house and help me clean and I'll pay you!

I'm guessing your dogs may shed and drool a lot!