Thinking back when I was in the thick of my 1031 process and how frustrated I was with the lack of response, how or why we got to where we were, I certainly didn’t care.  

One uncommon thing we did was to put up carpet tiles, with a thick rubber backing, within the wall.

The problem is that the surface under the backer board is either not level/flat or it is not thick enough (too much deflection).Additional layers of backerboard do not decrease deflection.

How thick is the brick wall?

Being a female,  my best advice is to make sure you have really thick skin (nothing is ever personal in business),  some people can be very supportive, but some people can be real a$$holes and just be ready for it.  

We also use the extra thick toilet ring to prevent leaks.For rentals, we provide the curved shower bars to make the shower seem larger.   

Use solid core insulation board, about 2" thick on the walls. 

I generally use budget engineered hardwood(~$4/sqft, 6-7" wide, 3/8" thick) for everything but after spending almost two weeks trying to match stair treads with the flooring on my current project, I gave up and decided to use a nice laminate instead.The way I see it, here are the pros and cons:Engineered Pros: You can tell the buyer it's hardwood.Engineered Cons: Somewhat more expensive, not as pretty unless you go high end which are much more expensive.

I'm looking at real estate as a way to grow my wealth in my 30s, 40s, 50s, and my 401k as thick, sweet icing on the cake in my 60s and beyond. 

When it hardens (after 45 minutes), you should get a standard hand sanding block (where you cut the sheet into 4 long strips) and a piece of 1-inch thick foam cut to fit under it and wrap good-quality 100-grit sandpaper around that.