WORCESTER | HOLDEN | SHREWSBURY | LEOMINSTER
Hardwood, tile, and LVP installed by a general contractor, which means we deal with what is under the floor before we put anything on top of it. Serving Worcester County.
Flooring is the most visible finish in a house and the one most dependent on something nobody sees. A floor that bounces will crack tile. A subfloor that is out of level will telegraph through hardwood. A basement with a moisture problem will destroy anything installed over it. None of those are flooring problems. They are structural and building envelope problems that show up as flooring failures a year or two after the check clears.
A flooring installer measures the room and lays the product. That works fine in a house built in 2015. In a Worcester County home built in 1890, or 1955, the subfloor is frequently the actual project and the flooring is the last step.
ARM Construction is a general contracting company. We can sister a joist, level a floor, replace rotted subfloor, and correct the drainage causing the problem in the first place, because Andrew Mercurio is a fourth-generation builder who came up in masonry and holds Massachusetts Construction Supervisor License #CS-093044. That is the difference between a floor that lasts and a floor that gets replaced twice.
This is the most common expensive flooring failure we get called about, and the cause is almost always the same.
Tile is rigid. The wood floor structure underneath it is not. Industry standards set a maximum allowable deflection for floors receiving tile, and natural stone requires roughly twice the stiffness that ceramic or porcelain does. Meet that standard and tile lasts decades. Miss it and the floor flexes underfoot, the grout lines crack first, and the tile follows.
Older homes here were framed long before those standards existed. Undersized joists, irregular spacing, long unsupported spans, and a hundred years of settlement are all normal in this housing stock. None of it is a reason not to tile. It is a reason to measure the deflection before anyone orders material, and to do the structural work first when the numbers say so. Sistering joists, adding a mid-span beam, or building up a proper underlayment assembly are all straightforward when they happen before the tile and expensive when they happen after.
This is the same argument as seen on the bathroom page, where waterproofing is the invisible thing that determines whether a shower lasts. Tile work has been part of the masonry trades for a very long time, and it is work we self-perform rather than subcontract.
If you are tearing up flooring in a Worcester County house, this is worth knowing before the demolition starts.
Nine-inch square vinyl tiles were the residential standard from roughly 1948 through the 1970s, and both the tile and the black cutback mastic underneath it frequently contain asbestos. Twelve-inch tiles from that era can as well. Intact and undisturbed, it is generally low risk. Broken up with a scraper on a Saturday afternoon, it is not.
Massachusetts is specific about this. State regulation requires that anyone removing floor tile and related mastics presume the materials contain asbestos unless lab analysis or manufacturer specifications indicate otherwise. The rules also prohibit sanding, dry-sweeping, dry-scraping, sawing, abrasive-blasting, mechanically chipping, or pulverizing those materials during removal, which rules out most of the ways people instinctively take up old flooring.
What we do. If we find suspect tile, we stop and get it tested rather than pulling it. If it comes back positive, removal is licensed abatement work, not flooring demolition, and we coordinate a licensed abatement contractor rather than pretending otherwise. There is often a second option worth pricing: if the tile is intact and well bonded, it can sometimes be left in place and encapsulated under a self-leveling cement underlayment, which is generally less expensive than full abatement and avoids disturbing the material at all.
Neither path is a disaster. Discovering it halfway through a demo day is.
Solid hardwood. The right choice above grade in most Worcester County homes, and it can be refinished multiple times over its life. It moves with seasonal humidity, which in Massachusetts swings hard between a humid August and a dry heated January, so it needs to acclimate in the house before installation and needs proper expansion gaps at the perimeter. Skipping acclimation is why floors cup and gap.
Engineered hardwood. Real wood veneer over a dimensionally stable core. It handles humidity swings and radiant heat better than solid, which makes it the better answer over concrete slabs, in basements with a good moisture picture, and anywhere with in-floor heat. The tradeoff is a limited number of refinishes depending on wear layer thickness.
Tile and natural stone. Porcelain, ceramic, and natural stone, in kitchens, bathrooms, mudrooms, and entries. Subject to everything in Section 2 about deflection.
Luxury vinyl plank and tile. Waterproof, dimensionally stable, and genuinely good now in a way the category was not fifteen years ago. It is the default for basements and a reasonable choice for mudrooms, laundries, and rentals.
Refinishing existing hardwood. Frequently the best value in an older home. Original wide-plank pine and old-growth oak are better material than anything currently sold, and if there is enough thickness above the tongue to sand, refinishing costs less than replacement and preserves something you cannot buy back.
Sloped and uneven floors. Common, and not always a problem. Homes on fieldstone and rubble foundations have been settling for a century, and a floor that is out of level but structurally sound is stable. What matters is whether the movement stopped decades ago or is still happening. Ongoing sag points to a sill, beam, or foundation issue, and new flooring over that is money spent twice. We look underneath before quoting what goes on top.
Rot around wet areas. Subfloor at toilets, under dishwashers, around exterior doors, and beneath old shower pans. Usually discovered during tear-up, usually straightforward to fix, and genuinely important to fix rather than cover.
Height transitions. Older houses accumulate flooring in layers, and pulling three of them up changes the relationship between rooms, doorways, and stair treads. Planning that before installation avoids trip hazards and doors that no longer clear.
Radiant heat. Increasingly common in Massachusetts renovations. It constrains what flooring works and how it gets installed, and it needs to be part of the conversation before material is selected rather than after.
We install flooring in Worcester, Holden, Princeton, Sterling, West Boylston, and Boylston, along with Shrewsbury, Leominster, Westborough, Northborough, Southborough, and Grafton.
Flooring is usually part of something larger. It is standard in a kitchen remodel, a bathroom remodel, a home remodel, a basement conversion, and an addition, where it also has to meet the existing floor at the tie-in without a step. Doing it as part of the larger project is almost always better than coming back to it.
What Our Customers Say
I can't say enough good things! I needed a small finish job done at the last minute, and Andrew made it happen quickly and without any stress. The craftsmanship was perfect and everything looks amazing. I'm extremely happy and would recommend him to anyone!
Andrew and his team are detail-oriented. They are skilled and helped me understand the process of renovating my kitchen. Fantastic communication & high quality service! I am so lucky to have them and recommend them to anyone! When they built my deck, it was so fast & efficient! Call Andrew, you won't regret it
Andrew replaced a garden window in my kitchen, and a sliding door. He did a meticulous job, and went above and beyond to accommodate some special requests that I had. His attention to detail and willingness to do whatever it took to make me happy didn't go unnoticed. Will definitely use him each and every time!
Here is what Worcester County homeowners ask us most about flooring. If your question is not here, call us at (774) 249-0221.
Almost always because the floor underneath flexes too much. Tile is rigid and the subfloor it sits on is not, so industry standards set a maximum deflection for tile installations, with natural stone requiring roughly twice the stiffness of ceramic or porcelain. Older Worcester County homes were framed long before those standards existed, often with undersized joists on irregular spacing. Laying tile over a floor that bounces produces cracked grout lines within a year or two and cracked tile after that. The fix is structural, which usually means sistering joists or adding a proper underlayment before any tile goes down.
Be careful here. Nine-inch square vinyl tiles and the black mastic under them were standard from roughly 1948 through the 1970s and frequently contain asbestos. Massachusetts regulation requires that anyone removing floor tile and related mastics presume they contain asbestos unless lab analysis or manufacturer specifications say otherwise. The regulations also prohibit sanding, dry-scraping, dry-sweeping, sawing, or grinding those materials during removal. If we find suspect tile, we stop and get it tested rather than tearing it up. Depending on the result, the options are licensed abatement or leaving intact tile in place and encapsulating it under a self-leveling underlayment.
Refinish it if there is enough thickness left above the tongue to sand, which on original wide-plank pine or old-growth oak in a Worcester County home there frequently is. That material is better than anything you can buy today, and it is worth keeping. Replacement makes sense when the wood has been sanded past its useful life, when water damage or pet damage has gone deep, or when the layout is changing anyway. We will tell you which situation you are in rather than quoting a replacement by default.
Luxury vinyl plank or tile, in almost every case. Solid hardwood does not belong below grade in this climate because concrete moves moisture upward and wood responds to it. LVP handles that far better and is the reason it has largely replaced laminate for basement work. Whatever goes down, the moisture has to be dealt with first. A basement that takes on water in the spring will ruin any floor, and no underlayment fixes a drainage problem. We solve water at the source before anything is installed.
Usually settlement, and often it is not a problem that needs solving. Older Worcester County homes on fieldstone and rubble foundations have been moving slowly for a century, and a floor that is out of level but structurally sound is common and stable. What matters is whether the movement is historic or ongoing. Sagging that is still progressing points to a foundation, sill, or beam issue, and installing new flooring over that is money spent twice. We look under the floor before we quote what goes on top.
Massachusetts allows one ADU by right on most single-family lots. Here is what the law permits. ...more
Additions & ADUs
August 05, 2026•7 min read
ARM Construction & Management Inc
131 Houghton Road
Princeton, MA 01541
(774) 249-0221
Licensed and insured in Massachusetts. MA CSL #CS-093044 | MA HIC Reg. #153199
© Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Conditions. Sitemap
