On 2/16/2016 6:37 PM, wrote:
You have natural stone like this
http://www.nsvi.com/
You also have man made products like this
http://www.eldoradostone.com/

If you are somewhat far away you can use the Eldorado stuff but up
close you want the natural stone.

Exactly. Folks will be able to *touch* this in the normal course
of usage (e.g., approaching the front door, sitting on the porch,
etc.). Also, able to scrutinize it "up close and personal".
And, it wants/needs to be reasonably flat; can't have things
jutting out that folks could bump into.

The cultured stone is very regular in height and you just stack them
up. The natural stone can be diamond cut or split. Diamond cut is very
regular too. The split stone looks better but there is a lot of hand
fitting. We made an entertainment center, electric fire place etc with
the split NVSI stone and I thought it came out well but doing the
puzzle takes a little time.

So, they *are* individual pieces? Not prefabbed "assemblies"
(that just happen to be "busy enough" -- visually -- that your eye
can't readily discern a pattern)?

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/cabinet/Our...s/image010.jpg
This is mostly done in this picture but I had not finished the wood
trim, the kicks and the far panel.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/cabinet%202015.jpg
All of the panels open and the whole thing is on wheels.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/cabinet%202015%20open.jpg

Neat!

Most of the properties, here, are surrounded by "privacy walls".
They resemble cinderblock but they are thinner (front to back).
Periodically, there are "pillars" made of "H blocks" (look like
an H when viewed from above; the "thinner" blocks previously mentioned
fit into the "slots" in the H).

The pillars tend to be located every ~10 feet but there is often
variation (lots aren't always regularly shaped, either!).

One neighbor had fashioned a hinged door -- five feet high and
3 or 4 feet wide -- *in* the wall made to resemble the same
blocks that the wall was fashioned of. I'd always dismissed
the area as just "two H pillars that happened to be located
close together" -- until, one day, seeing it *open*!

When I next encounter it as such, I will examine it more
carefully to see if it truly was fashioned of the same 3"
thick, 8x16 "cinder blocks" or if there's some hackery
involved.

You put down expanded metal stucco lath, mortar it and stick on the
stone like you would do tile. I like "flex" mortar because it really
sticks. Then use a wet tooth brush to remove any mortar that squeezes
out. That usually means you used too much mortar.

Again, you're fitting individual "stones" (that are presumably very "thin",
front to back)?