Unused section of the hive? Happened again? Burr comb? Attached to the bottom?
Someone sold you a bill of goods on what sounds like a hive that would require absolutely no forethought of maintenance on your part.
A couple things from just your comments tillie?
You mention an unused section of the hive. My advice, and the way I inspect my top bar hives, is to go through the bars from the end that has no comb. So I might take out three or four empty bars, then prograss into larger and larger comb (mostly honey) and into the brood chamber. I can guarantee that if I started at the brood end, I might also tear some comb.
Of course bees will occasionally connect comb to the sides. While it is minimal, it does happen. Especially in areas that it happened previously. Most folks with top bar hives have a serrated knife handy and as the progress through the combs pulling each out, the look to the next comb to see if it is connected. Then you simply slice the comb disconnecting it from the sides, so the comb does not rip. Some kind of a knife is a given for top bar hive inspections.
By ripping the comb previously, and perhaps not cleaning it up properly the first time, you actually allowed bees to repair broken comb, which many times adds to the way they build awkward comb, compounding the problem.
I have top bar hives that have never connected comb to the sides. In fact, yesterday we went through a top bar hive for a class of beekeepers, and not one comb was connected. But I have others that seem to connect an inch or two of every comb to the sides. But this is no different than the risks you run in any other type hive, where they will sometimes build double walled comb on foundation, build cross comb, etc. There is usually a reason. So without understanding why, I can see you frustration.
Did you build the top bar yourself? Or did you buy it? Are the frames the proper width? (I hate those that come with two different size bars. Only adds to the problems.)
I always say, if others can do it...so can I. And so can you. But it seems that your inspection procedure, your understanding of what to expect, and how to correct the situation, is way off. I see this with other beekeepers, with other hives, and with other problems.
Good luck regardless of what you do.