I did not need heat to remove the top layer. Once my pry had loosened the corner and left edge I was able to smoothly (SLOWLY) pull up the covering plastic. It went back into place with no issues. Be careful as the spot above the arrow keys will be a tough spot as well as the logo potion at the top center.

The keyboard is flexible enough that you can loosen the tabs at the top and bottom edges of the keyboard and lift from the middle to release it from the outer end tabs. From there you have full access to the underside of the keyboard for cleaning. A little canned air and isopropyl alcohol cleaned mine right up.

MUCH easier than I expected. For me the hardest part was getting the rear cover back on. LOL!

Definitely test the touch before putting the adhesive into play. The last thing you want is to go to all that work only to find that the new digitizer isn’t functioning. The hardest part is getting the broken screen off. Everything else is a cake walk.