Tiling on balcony - advice needed

chewed

I'm looking at tiling a small balcony in my parents' house. It's about 1.2 x 2.2 m
I'm an amateur tiler and have never tiled outdoors.

There's a rubber membrane protective covering on the balcony and I'm wondering do I need to put anything down over this before I start tiling? Someone mentioned that I should put a thin piece of plywood! Any advice would be appreciated.

650gs

No no no do not puncture this membrane just get flexible adhesive and grout

chewed

Thanks. I didn't think it was a good idea to put ply wood over it.

jack of all

That's a tricky one, what is the actual roof construction- is the balcony concrete or steel with a built up membrane? If concrete I think the best job would be to brush down the exist roof covering and cover this with a torch on felt/ or sheathing felt, loose laid (not torched or bonded in any way) to act as an isolating membrane (to allow for independent movement of the roof covering below). Then lay a thin sand cement screed 25- 30mm, reinforced with chicken wire. When cured tile over this with a frost proof tile, adhesive and grout. Not a DIY job unless your pretty handy and confident you can get a good level screed. You would need to consider the additional weight of this build up, just a guess but could amount to 50k per m2, depending on tiles and screed thickness. Also you would need to consider the impact of the build-up on any cover flashing and weathered upstands at the perimeter of the balcony. Just a few things to be aware of.

chewed

Thanks Jack of all. I'll have to inspect it again more carefully to see if it's concrete base. I'll post up some photos if I can.