Kweenie, The difference is that a fire is not usually a result of direct negligence on the management's fault. If it were then you probably could sue them. For instance, if an electrician told them they had faulty wiring that was a fire hazard and they opted not to fix it, and that wiring caused the building to burn down, the tenant's losses would be a direct result of the managements negligence, and I'd bet they could win. Same here, this was a result of negligence. I have a friend who lives in the same building his sister lives in. It's a highrise, but the units are owned, like condos. The bylaws state very clearly that the highrise management company is not responsible for damages to personal property. My friend's sister had insurance to cover her belongings. When the pipes in the building froze and burst, sending a virtual waterfall into her apartment, my friend told her not to even report it to the insurance company. Instead he threatened the management company with a lawsuit, because the damages to her property were a direct result of their negligence. They bought her all new furniture. If any damage had been done to my washer, dryer, or upright freezer when our maintenance crew incorrectly installed our hot water heater, causing the outlet pipe to burst sending scalding hot water spraying all over our utility room, you better believe they would have bought us new appliances. Would have paid our hospital bills to if my husband had been hurt running into all that scalding hot water to shut off the intake to the water heater. Basically, damages to tenant's property that are outside the apartment management's control, like storms, trees falling down, fires, are not the responsibility of the management. But if negligence can be shown to be the reason for the damage, you better believe they can be held responsible. You might have to actually take them to small claims court, cuz they'll calim that your renter's insurance is responsible.

Laminate floors (any factory finished floor) will have a shelf life of 2 years. At 6 years you are well beyond that time frame. The other concern with finding something "similar" (it will always look 'wrong') is the CLICK SYSTEM will NOT MATCH. Oh. No. So not only will you have a mismatched plank that doesn't look quite right...you have a click edge that won't sit properly = looks even worse. Sigh. As much as you hate to hear this, I would suggest you find a click together vinyl floor in a tile or stone look (not wood-look) and go ahead and remove the ENTIRE kitchen floor (leave everything else) and simply replace the inappropriate laminate with an appropriate vinyl. Something that looks nice and works with your kitchen....but please use vinyl. I'm very sorry you had damage...but this is one reason why I tell people who want to install laminate in their kitchen to "buy the kitchen twice". Laminates in kitchens have a life expectancy of 3-7 years. Yours made it 6 years (it looks very nice for a 6 year old laminate BTW). Which is really the end of the life expectancy for kitchens and laminates. Save as much of the laminate as you can by replacing the kitchen part with an appropriate vinyl....or lino....or cork. Something that can handle water. This would be a cork option that could possible work...but it might be "too close" to the original laminate presentation. Caramel Swirl is a strong character...but it looks like that is something you can handle quite well.

That is tricky to say, you always want to see stains on your floor with your lighting. That said provincial and special walnut are good to start with...

I don't know much about stucco other than it is porous and has to be able to drain. So I think your suspicion about the sidewalk is probably spot on. You're going to have to open up the wall. Perhaps a foot square opening in the drywall near the floor to inspect now. If that confirms water damage, then I would get that sidewalk ripped out ASAP, hopefully restoring the Drainage Plane, and get set for a major repair project this spring/ summer.