Kitchens – Removing Drop-in Sink Mounting Clips

Matt, there is a huge difference between an under mount and a drop in fixture. The first concern is the counter itself. what kind are you using? Some counter tops cannot be used with an under mount sink. The support and sealing of an under mount sink is completely different than a drop in. The holes for the faucet need to be in the counter, not the sink unit, and the edges of the sink unit have to be flat and are usually epoxied and clamped in place while the counter is upside down. If you are very clever, you probably can fit the drop in under the counter, but how are you going to finish the counter edges and drill your fixture holes? They will need to be polished. This is usually a production job, not a DIY unless you give the counter maker an exact template, not something you can simply cut out and do yourself.

When I used to do a lot of these for a building/renovation company, the approach our foreman recommended was to assume the drywall will need replacing anyway and just rip it out. That would let you remove that entire panel in 45 minutes, and then you can just pop a new piece of drywall in, which is another 15 minutes.

As you can see from your 45 minutes, the drywall is going to be ruined, so just bite the bullet - get in behind it and pull it all off. The use of a crow bar and hammer may help here.

If you are wanting to keep the tiles on the adjacent wall, make sure you have cut a gap in at the corner so you don't rip it out as well.

Also, make sure you have something over the drain, to avoid it becoming clogged (I know - sounds obvious, but people do forget)

Updated to incorporate comments

• Cement board and a vapour barrier are the only suitable backing for your tiles here. Drywall shouldn't have been in there to begin with.
• Watch out when hammering around plumbing, to avoid water leaks adding to your worries!