"Henry B." wrote in message news:Go3wb.13430$yM6.11712@lakeread06...

The local HD plumbing guy is fairly knowledgeable

I wouldn't rely on people who weren't licensed for the trade, even if
they worked in the business, at least not from a supplier that sold
mostly to retail customers, especially for something like this, where
you could be killed. The safest thing to do is get pipe rated
especially for natural gas.

At another home improvement center, I asked for some pre-mixed mortar
with a strength grade of "M" or "S" for a high wall. The person there
had no idea and claimed that their pre-mixed was strong enough, even
though none of the packages were labelled for strength. I said it was
probably rated only "N" and that it had too much lime to be very
strong, but the person replied that he used to work as a mason and
that the more lime in mortar, the stronger it was --the opposite of
the truth. I ended up getting the mortar from a masonry supply, where
they understood exactly what I wanted, and I paid exactly the same
price for much higher quality.