Hello, I recently purchased my new duplex. Of course, before purchasing the house, I invited a home inspector, and he did a pretty decent job. As a result, the seller had to fix some electrical, mold, and foundation issues.

However, one major issue  was overlooked by my home inspector: the seller had remodeled the kitchen and laid hardwood floor on top of the main furnace grid, which was originally located in the kitchen. When I turned the furnace for the first time, I realized that something was wrong: it sounded like an out-of-balance washing machine and it frequently turned off and on (every 1-5 minutes). A professional HVAC technician cleaned up the furnace and fix the furnace blower. However, he discovered the real issue - the furnace was overheating a lot since the hot air had nowhere to go. The HVAC team can open the kitchen floor and resolve the issue, but this will cost me a few hundreds of dollars.

My question is: can I make the seller pay for this since the issue was clearly caused by him?

(If it helps, the seller is an experienced real-estate agent and a house flipper. )