Hi Tracy,
To setup a development version of the site is a good idea.
An easy way if you have access to the hosting admin is to setup a subdomain - often people use dev.drawable.com.au, etc
This then functions as a separate site - next run
joomlapack.net/ the Joomla backup component and create a backup of your site. You will need to have a look at their instructions but it isn't too difficult. Basically upload your backup to the the new subdomain and restore it and you will have a mirror of your current site.
When you have finished the rebuild you can use the same process to move the new site back to main site directory.
I'll let you think about this process first and then we can deal with the column sizes - we will have to do a little template adjustment but sure we can work it out.
