I also need advice on tile, stone, etc. on porches. I am attaching a picture of our house that is being built in Southwest Virginia. Thanks for your input!

Here is a link that might be useful: Flooring for porches???

Do you have a slab now and this will go over de slab?
If you do not have a slab already I think an economical flooring for the BACK Porches is using treated pine (as if it were a deck) - my personal preference is to use pine over composite decking since the composite ages ugly and is just a fake version of wood. If your budget allows it you can always use cider. I think the wood will look "tropical" and does not get as hot as stone.

As for the front, there are natural stones that are not too rough. I like flag stone but it might be expensive.

If you use ceramic you have to make sure that it does not get slippery when wet.
Do you like pavers? I love pavers and I think they go nice with the style of house you are mentioning also one of my favorite flooring for exterior is tumbled bricks. They are full of character!!!

I do not recommend stamped and colored concrete: it looks fake; in that case, I prefer simple concrete.
What you save using pine in the back will allow you to use a nicer stone/paver/ceramic in the front.

We have three large verandas on our home. All are poured concrete. The back two, facing the lake and wind/rain are stained concrete. Picture below is the lower veranda right after it was stained, before we moved in.

We considered tile, but I couldn't find any that I liked and really didn't want to deal with grout issues down the road. The concrete sure is easy to keep clean.

Our concrete was stained with concrete stain then sealed, but I have a friend who stained hers using two wood stains and it turned our fabulous. She also sealed.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Here is a shot of our front veranda. Our home has a lot of stone and cedar outside, so the flagstone is perfect. Our sidewalks are also flagstone and the retaining walls are capped with it too. As you can see, our flagstone is pretty thick. It is also done over poured concrete. Cost more, but isn't going anywhere.

I don't know how many tons we used for only the veranda since my sheet includes the sidewalk stone. It is smooth/fine for going barefoot and does not get slippery when wet. The stone sidewalk does heat up in the summer sun though (but so would tile) - I am in Central Alabama.

Here is a link that might be useful:

allison,
I love your front flag stone. It is so gorgeous and looks cozy!

Thanks. We love sitting there while the dogs run around/play.

I love flagstone and slate. We used granite irregular cut flagging on our front and rear porches. This was set in a mortar bed atop a 4" poured concrete pad (sitting in a pan). Our flagstone was originally (we got it on sale) $450/ton, and it covers about 100 sq/ft a ton. I would say that is a reasonable estimate for coverage although it can vary some.

Slate would be much more affordable...more likely in the $100-$200 range for materials only. You will probably not (depending on your local prices) be able to get a stone install in the $5/sq ft range...more likely it will be closer to $8-$10. You could maybe get tile installed close to $5/sq ft. There are some good looking tiles out there that closely mimic slate.

You could also use ipe for some of the porches...not sure if the price difference would be that great though.

I think that if the natural stone doesn't work, and you don't want wood that stained concrete would work too. I don't think that pavers sound very caribbean...and their install cost wouldn't save you any money.

We will do poured and stained concrete for both of our decks. I love the look and low maintenance.

We have a new/old home that has double piazzas on the front.
We DIYed black stone on the lower porch and did wood on the upper one. I painted the wood with Cabots opaque stain in a pale gray and it has held up well for four years. Both porches are covered.
Here is a pic of the lower porch.
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Please, use an anti-slip finish on any walkway subject to moisture. There are a number of products available, some designed for commercial use, some with textured additives, and some that go on like clear paint but after application doesn't get slippery when wet.

I agree that a natural stone would be best for what you're trying for. You don't see many wooden decks or porches on houses in the caribbean. Actually what you mostly see is old cracked concrete with grass growing in the cracks, lol.

The black stone that lsst has is beautiful. I think a slate or pavers would work well too. Set in sand with sand rather than mortar would probably also be more authentic. Since you're in Florida, a travertine paver like I have might also work - this one works well with my stucco color.

flseadog,
I just searched caribbean porch in google images and the pictures show a little bit of everything, mostly wood, ceramic and stone, some stained concrete. I also saw a couple of porches with pavers.
Is your house caribbean island style or is it a house with "tropical flair?
It would be nice too see a picture.
good luck.

Inspiration site. There are houses here with beautiful porches: stone, wood and more.

http://www.hutkerarchitects.com/portfolio/architecture/traditional/edgartown_harbor_residence_1.html

http://www.hutkerarchitects.com/portfolio/architecture/traditional/red_beach_5.html

Here is a link that might be useful: porches

Thanks for all the suggestions. All of our porches (although I'm considering renaming them piazzas or verandas because that sounds so elegant) are poured concrete and DH has just told me that he doesn't want to do concrete or pavers as the finished surface so I guess I'm back to tile or stone. Someday I'll have pictures to share. Right now all we have is a concrete block bunker of a house with poured concrete porches all topped by a shiny metal roof. The surrounding weeds and sand are a sight to behold. It helps me to remind myself that I'm pretending that I'm restoring a 200 year old ruin and someday it'll look great. LOL.