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Good luck to you and good that you have a case. Sorry you have to deal with all of this but once taken care of, you'll have the house you thought you bought!
Having a case and winning a case are two different matters -- but it does sound as though you may be able to prevail if you can prove that the sellers/agent tried to hide the floor damage.
Regarding the fleas and poop in the yard, I doubt you can prevail in litigation over those matters; they're relatively minor issues and can be easily rectified by bombing/fogging and cleaning up the yard. I know they dont seem like minor issues when your child is affected, but I've moved into houses that had fleas and was able to get rid of them in a day or two. Be sure to use bombs/foggers that are designed to kill both flea adults and eggs and be sure to treat the yard for fleas, as well.
And I trust that you've cleaned up the yard by now. If you find the job too repulsive, you can check your local listings for companies that pooper-scoop yards for a small fee. Good luck!
I side with the folks suggesting professional cleaning service followed by the refinishing instead of ripping up the wood floors and subfloors. These services actually do things like clean up after a fire, so imagine the kind of work they can do.
Also, you can probably handle the fleas on your own. There's a spray (new?) now called "Flea and Bedbug" spray. I got it at Lowes. My cats had an awful bout with fleas this past summer and they don't even do outside! Can't remember the maker but I'll check. Good luck!
Beyond dealing with whoever sold the house to you... They screwed you over and you can talk with the lawyer you or real estate agent (if your state doesn't require lawyers).
You can sand the hardwood floors - there are machines specifically to do this - then polyurethane the floors with a couple of thick coats. This does work. My husband and I bought his ex-wife's house. We had the carpets all ripped up and did this. It was 30 years ago and treatments perhaps change but sanding still exists and polyurethane is still available.
If they refinsihed the floors that may be a good indication they knew about the pet urine.
Had you known about the urine floor, would that had "materially impacted" your decission to buy the house or reduced the price you were willing to pay?
Was there a home disclosure statement and was it listed?
Did you have the house inspected?
You may or may not have a claim against the seller. (you may want to post this on the Real Estate Forum if your looking for advice on what action you may be able to take against the seller, agent, etc) But for pet urine, if the regular heavy duty enzimes don;t work, tear up the floor, and sub floor and replace.
I agree posting it in a realestate forum either here or else where is a good idea) Houses that are known to have pet urine is known as the dog/cat pee house and have a hard time selling.
If an agent was used you may have something to go by they do have licenses you know. It may be easier to ask an agent or go after the agent vs the home owners. Unsure but that is why agents get xxx amount of money for all these home sells. You pay closing cost for closing cost which the agent also helps you with but their are things that should be disclosed big issues that is such as:: urine which is an issue if it wasn't then you could find more apartments/house renters that would allow pets.
I would say this is a huge issue and would pursue it.
I recently removed carpeting and pads from one of my rooms where my sister had a cat that liked to spray (male). I had to remove everything and scrub the cement underneath as a precaution then I layed down laminate tile the black marble tile. Looks and smell GREAT.
there is a product i used, urine off (grey/black bottle), that worked pretty well for pet urine stains and odors. i had some *old* urine stains from a previous owner who owned the house 15 yrs ago. the urine off took out 90% of the stains and old odor. then we had the hardwood floor professionally refinished. this product has to be applied prior to floor sanding.
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