bob I just went through this with our build which finished in dec 08. Our house is in the blueridge mtns of VA - and we had a very dense lot of trees with a lot of nasty brush. We also had no idea of what we were getting into when we bought this lot and my goodness - and it was a tremendous amount of debris that had to be removed. I wish we had thought about this first - but I leraned a few things that might help. The big problem with a lot like ours is that when you start to push brush out of the way it piles up very quickly. The brush pile can get so large that a wheeled tractor might not be able to push it. We started with a medium size bulldozer with a blade to cut the driveway and allow us to get back to where the house would be located - about 700 feet in from the main road. The brush that was ripped (and you need to make sure they rip the roots out of the ground) was pushed into a large pile which the dozer ran over many times to compact. It really wasn't that hard for the operator to avoid the medium and large trees - but the smaller trees in the drive had to go anyway and the dozer just pulled those right out of the ground. So after step 1 - we had a rough cut drive and a large debris pile which was tucked away in a portion of the lot where we could hide it. It is a great idea to locate that spot before you start and think about access to it after the house project is done. Then the big machines came in to clear out the septic field and house site. This was a large dozer, a large back hoe, and a large chipper. They cut the trees down with chain saws so that they had long logs - about 20 feet each - which they neatly piled in 2 out of the way places on the lot (they were out of the way but could be accessed easily later.) The crowns and branches of the trees were cut up and run through the chipper. The root balls were dug up with the back hoe and pushed to the front of the brush pile where they could be accessed later. The additional brush was pulled up and added to end of the brush pile. When they were done clearing the various types of debirs each type was piled seperately. And each of these piles could be accessed by trucks and heavy equipment later for disposal - without tearing up my yard or driveway. You can burn brush but we opted to not go that route. Aside from the very strict fire codes and special requirements by the fire marshall when you do a large open burn - we were affraid to start a forrest fire. Once you get one of these piles on fire, you can try and contain them (if you have the right equipment in place and build a proper pit) but the embers are going to fly. We just didn't want to risk it. If you start a fire you are liable for any damage. Our strategy is to let the brush pile rot for a few years and we will then have the large pieces removed (big pieces of trees and root balls) but the rest will be crushed and either burried on the site or crushed by the machines and spread out on the lot as mulch. Once the brush has been weathered a lot of it will decompose and fall apart when it is run over by a large machine. Since they piled the parge piecs at the front of the pile and the smaller stuff at the back of the pile, we have some sense of order for attacking it. For our future clearing efforts, i plan on using a light machine (tractor, skid steer, or bob cat) to clear out brush and a smaller chipper to grind it down. With these smaller machines, I can avoid ripping small trees that I might want to keep and will certainly maneuver around large trees. Once I get the brush and smaller stuff ripped out and chipped, then I will bring in the lumber jacks to take out some trees. I will have the logs cut and piled, and chip the crown and branches just like my excavator did. I plan on doing this over a number of years, in smaller manageable chunck of land, so that I don't wind up with a giant pile of debris like I had when we first cleared. It is a good thing you are planning this now. I wish I had the foresight to see what happened and we counted on the builder to deal with it. He had a plan - but I am not happy with the end result. Some of that big brush pile is hidden in the woods but there is a good chunck of it that I can see when I look out the front of my house (that is beacuse we started to run out of room on the 1.5 acres in the front of the lot where we piled all this stuff). I need to have a portion of that brush pile removed because I am tired of looking at the mess. A DR machine might not be big enough for your clearing project - especially the first cuts you need to make for the drive, septic, and house site. I could see going in there first with a bob cat just or skid steer to clear a path so you can walk into the lot and site things - and those machines are very easy to steer around small trees. When you start to rip out stuff to clear larger areas - you will need a beefier machine like a dozer. Best of luck with he project.

Protect your wall tiles with cardboard and take a hammer to the row of counter top tiles that are against the wall. Break them up good. Wearing gloves and using putty knives and screwdrives pull out all the little pieces of tile from that row closest to the wall. Wiggle them out from under the backsplash tile, they should come out fairly easily. This clears a distance the thickness of the tile for the counter to pivot up upon removal before it contacts and loads your backsplash tiles. If that proves to not be enough set the depth right on a circular saw or rotozip and zip through the cement board and pry that off too. It will take more finesse then normally is used when demoing kitchens but with a little caution, it should be very doable.

I received this e-mail from Macy's. Looks like they'll take care of it either by request or as a matter of routine: "Upon arrival at your home your 5-Star Delivery Expert will: Use pads and door protectors to protect your home while handling your new furniture Wear shoe covers to protect your floors and gloves when needed to protect your new furniture Review any special requests such as moving like items as needed to another room of your home on the same level (Only like items of those being delivered today may be moved on the same floor/level) When bringing your new Home Furnishings into your home your Delivery Expert will: Vacuum area(s) where your new purchase will be placed Place bed skirt(s) and mattress pad(s) on your new bed Remove all delivery packaging and materials when they leave from your residence."

Thanks everyone. You all have good ideas here. I suggested to my husband that we call the manufacturer, but he doesn't want ANYTHING to do with them anymore. He is afraid that they'll send some unqualified person out to do the job, they'll mess up the counter, and our kitchen won't be finished for another 6 weeks while we wait for the new counter to come and be installed... we've done this whole kitchen ourselves and it's taken 10 months because my husband is very anal and very thorough... I think with your suggestions, we can hopefully get this sink out ourselves without damaging the counter. But I might call and try to talk to Whirlpool or Menards anyhow... the easiest thing would be for us to get this out ourselves and return it to Menards... but maybe not the smartest thing. We'll have to think this over. I'm 5 months pregnant and we need to get this kitchen DONE so we can redo the laundry room before baby comes. I will also put tape all over the outside of the enamel so as it continues to pop off, hopefully the tape will prevent it from flying and injuring someone. I didn't consider further breakage of the enamel - that was a good point. And leather gloves for all. I do know one thing for sure: the replacement sink will be Kohler. *sigh* I'll keep you all posted. I appreciate all your insights and tips.