On Tue, 26 Aug 2014 05:52:50 -0700, Terry Coombs wrote:

...snip....
I'd check with the "experts" here too . This floor is looking better and
better , the rocks here in Stone County Ar have a fairly high iron
content ,
and the reddish colors really pop in contrast to the gray of the mortar
. I
need to get some muriatic to finish cleaning mortat haze , vinegar works
but
not as well as I had hoped .
About the weight issue , this wall is directly over one of the main
support beams . I'll probably be adding extra crossblocking between the
joists to be sure I don't have any sag - though if this is a solid mass
when
finished , I'm not so sure extra blocking is needed .

Only as a matter of protocol, and not because you need to, I'd use
fireplace high temp mortar. Why not? small amount.

We have high iron content here, too. Here's a 'heads up' be really, really
sure you want that gray mortar look before you do it. When I first did it,
I thought nice contrast, then slowly started to hate it. After using
sakrete color, brown, from home depot; the mortar became 'similar' in
color to the stones, which left the stones dominating, not the mortar when
I looked at it. Now when I look, I see the stones. Seriously, be really,
really sure you want that gray mortar dominating over the look of your
stones.