Dodgy balcony

[alib103]

I'm in 2 minds as to whether or not i should take a job on. A woman rang me to say some tiles have come up off her balcony due to the bad winter and her builder has told her she needs a tiler. Went out to have a look it looked like 10 or so tiles to lift, clean and fix, easy job i thought. When i started walking on the balcony i noticed more and more starting to come loose and the grout was cracking everywhere, as it had just rained i also noticed water being squeezed up through the grout...basically it was in crap condition. When i looked a bit harder i saw its actually laid on what looks like 18mm ply, i told her this and said thats why its knackered...oh no she said, it marine grade ply. After about 15 mins she understood what i was saying but said she didn;t want it relaying, just the loose tiles fixed so they look nice. I said i couldn't guarantee how long they would last and best thing was to do it all again.
She's determined not to have it done again and even though i said they might not last she still wants me to do it.
I'm thinking this may be too much hassle and with the recent rain she's stopped calling untill the ply dries, giving me some peace!
What would you guys do?

 

[Dan]

It needs pulling up and totally re-laying. If you do a repair job on that and just try to fix the few loose tiles, it'll be you that then gets the hassle when it fails again (and it will).

So say the job needs to be redone fully, whether at the expense of the builder or her, but certainly not you.

 

[david campbell]

i agree with dan this will just be more problems in the future,for what it's worth i would leave well alone if it's not taken up completely and re-done

 

[united]

I agree with both Dan and David

I know she won't listen but I would either quote for a full refit or just walk away, too much hassle in the future if you just do a repair

 

[alib103]

Thanks guys, i was thinking the same thing but sometimes the thought of the money gets in the way of sensible thinking!

 

[Dan]

You're right there mate. I'll grant you access to the TilersForums Arms now so you can have a read in the marketing section, and generally read lots more pro related advice.

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Balconies are tricky due to extreme climate change, Schluter do a full system. Maybe someone can post a link

 

[White Room]

As above, once your've touched the job and other tiles come away your phone will be ringing