I’ve got a wooden worktop with a Belfast sink. The kitchen tap comes through the worktop. The problem is when you wash your hands water is always dripping onto the wood when you turn the tap off and it is starting to get some black mould around it.

I’m replacing the tap, so was going to cut a white porcelain tile to fit behind the sink and the wall and I’ll mount tap on the tile. I was just going to use no more nails to lay the tile on then go round the edge with some white silicone.

Will that be ok or is there something better to use than no more nails/grip fill etc?

Replace the tap with one that has handles out over the big sink, so no water dribbling, and coat the worktop in osmo top oil, 3 or 4 coats.

Tiled worktops are up there with wallpaper, artex and privet hedges.

Haha. The wood is blackened and a bit rotten so really need to cover it with something. Will just be 45cmx10cm white porcelain strip not the whole worktop and hopefully will just look like an extension of the sink.

Is black grout preferable to black wood?

No black grout, will be using white silicone sealant around the edges

You’ll need to sort the wood out before tiling, don’t just cover over the black ‘rotting’ bit.

If you are going to do this, and I’m not sure you should cover rotting wood with anything but there we go, just make sure it’s dry and use a good quality silicone to stick the tile down. No nails is no good as the wood will move so you’ll want something flexible.