My needs vary according to the piece being finished.I use a glaze for the "wet"look,and satin for a more muted finish.I always use gloves while finishing and GOOD ventilation,outdoors if possible.And,at this juncture,I use brush on.A power sprayer in the future?I'll have to ask my better half. Ouch!!!I guess I'll ask her later... Cheers from here

It would help to know your climate. One inch of XPS R5 (reduced to R4 after 10 years) would be adequate in the US south. North of the Mason-Dixon line, R20 is the minimum recommended by Building Science Corp.'s Dr. Joe Lstiburek. (That's actually Code where I am in southern Ontario.) See US Department of Energy link below for Zip Code specific R value recommendations. There's no reason to include a space between the framing and the XPS, unless you were to fill that area with fibrous or other insulation to bring the wall up to the minimum recommendation. Sodium silicate or crystalline waterproofing are the only long-term useful sealers for walls and floors. Both are ideally applied by professionals, due to the toxicity of the prep or the material; diy's tend to ignore safety precautions. Your link didn't work. But any of the three widely-sold North American brands of XPS boards should do. They are Greenguard/Pactiv, Styrofoam by Dow and Owen-Corning's Foamular. (There are different strength XPS boards, but the typical big box store will carry Type IV exclusively.) Tongue and groove boards work best as they help lock the ends of the boards together. Your goal is to not let the basement air touch the bare foundation. Some of the walls had been framed by the previous owner with a vapor barrier and rolled insulation, when I removed those my sinuses immediately swelled up from mold dust. And I bet that same method is right now being advocated at hundreds of building centres across the US and Canada. Not to mention the on-line forums that make me want to grit my teeth! Here is a link that might be useful: Zip code Specific R Value Recommendations

Thank you so much for your thoughts. We do not have a drain lever. It is the type that you just lift and turn the actual drain cover....in the bottom of the tub. Wish I had more technical name for it. Not sure about the shower valve cover plate. Will have to look into that further. Let me ask this. It is my understanding that grout will allow water through. It is not water tight. This home is less than 2 years old. If water is expected to get through grout then there must be something in place to make sure that the water that does escape through grout does not turn into a leak. If in fact the water is escaping through grout as that is what we have concluded here...what could have gone wrong? Could tile be improperly installed? Was something not done that should have been done? How will we be able to tell? Thank you in advance for any thoughts you have.

Never had an issue with fumes and vinyl tile flooring...although I have read about problems with vinyl recently. A commercial grade LVT (laminated vinyl tile) product should be fine to use. Avoid cheap vinyl products from Indonesia and China. Most vinyl tiles will emit latent gasses when opening the package and when newly-installed. These odors dissipate rapidly, although with cheap flooring...perhaps not.