I'll let you know in 7-10 days. This weekend I mowed short, aerated, then overseeded. Where I live we're only allowed to mechanically water from 9:00pm - midnight on Wed and Sunday. We're getting heavy dew at night and I hand water the sunny parts that dry out by afternoon. To help my fight for germination I seeded heavy. We've gotten a few light rains so hopefully I'll get decent germination and my efforts will pay off. Good luck on your project. I figure if I only get 50% I'm further ahead than before ..

Casey,
I saw the new regs approved by the city council on 9/16. You may have an option here depending on the extent of your renovation and what you mean by "rip up my lawn and plant seed". Also, I didn't see restrictions on hand-held hose sprayers. Under the regs previous to the 16th, I could walk around my yard spraying from the nozzle without restriction. Which is an interesting scenario because I'd expect the waste of water to be higher. I guess the city bases part of the regs on human effort. That means I had to drag the hose around but that's ok to me since it's important for that first week to keeping the seeds wet.

Excerpt from the regs regarding the permit:
A 45-day new landscape irrigation establishment permit may be obtained from the City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department for a $50 fee. The permit allows for the irrigating of new whole-yard first seeding, establishing new sod, or for large commercial plantings.

Good luck.

The way I read that exemption, I don't think it would work for the OP. This isn't a new first seeding. It looks like it can be used for new sod or commercial plantings, but I don't think it could be used for a renovation.

Does it get cold enough where you are that it's too cold for grass to germinate? If so, you might try dormant seeding. If not, you might try waiting until there's some rain in the forecast and plant just before it starts to rain.

I'm sorry to say this but I think you're wasting your time trying to grow KBG when you can't even water during the day, and you'll actually have to skip watering every other day...KBG needs to stay moist, if you have just one day over 75 degrees with sun or wind, that seed won't make it.

caseyc3 - you'll be fine...go ahead and reseed. With the constant rain we're having and the every other day watering schedule is enough to get that seed germinated. The soil is getting cool enough now that it's almost the perfect time to seed. You don't have to water 3-4 times a day to provide enough moisture in the soil for germination. I'm in south Raleigh and I just did it twice in 2 weeks, Labor day and last weekend to fill in the missed spots. It's coming in great.

The grass you have now though doesn't sound like turf-type fescue, but rather the wide-leaved clumpy K-31 fescue...which is a completely different animal from tttf fescue. But, you should know what you have. I have tttf fescue AND KBG mixed, and it provides an excellent looking dark green lawn. If you have K-31, I'd Round-up it and a couple of days later cut it to 2.5", aerate, and reseed, but be sure it's K-31 before you tear up your lawn.

Thanks for the advice all, here are some pics of the current grass...

{{gwi:112245}}
{{gwi:112246}}
{{gwi:112247}}
{{gwi:112248}}
{{gwi:112249}}
{{gwi:112250}}
{{gwi:112251}}

There is a guy going around doing aeration, I think I'm going to have him do it Sunday. I'll be out of town for two weeks and when I get back I was going to slit seed the whole lawn with KBG. I work from home so I'll be able to hand water it daily. Should I overseed with Fescue instead of KBG? I really hate how it gets clumpy and I like that KBG will repair itself, any one got advice???

BTW, here's a good guide from NCSU for our area for just about everything. Good stuff. Check Table 1.

Here is a link that might be useful: NCSU Carolina Lawns

Thanks everyone, I finally got on the ball and got busy today. A guy has been going around aerating the neighborhood and he said he could do mine today so I had him do it. He did a heck of a job tons of plugs everywhere!

Anyway, that spurred me to go get seed, I went to Southern Seeds in Middlesex and bought a 50lb bag of Confederate which is a tall Fescue blend with 5% KBG. The guy there said the same thing as Brian about the germination so I figured I would skip the full KBG this year and maybe overseed with it next year.

This afternoon I used a thatch rake on the front and pulled out about 3 wheelbarrows worth of dead grass (and some shallow rooted live stuff) and then mowed the lawn on the lowest setting, it's looking rough and ready for seed tomorrow. I got a starter fertilizer and mulch and am going to broadcast tomorrow. Anything else I should do? Should I water right after seeding?

Yes..water right after seeding. Also, if you really want to get alot of seed to soil contact, rent a roller from Home Depot(maybe $10) and after you sow and water, roll the entire lawn surface. This will push the seeds into the moist soil cores so that you get good seed to soil contact on the soil cores...it will also flatten the remaining soil cores so your lawn doesn't get bumpy....the roller will improve your results, doesn't cost much money, and doesn't take much time.

How much should I water after seeding? Just enough to moisten the ground? I was going to look into the roller as it suggests that in my Home Depot Lawns 1-2-3 book (which is great btw!)

Yes, just enough to keep the soil moist, but keep in mind that a lot of seed will probably fall into the aerated holes and will take a tad longer to germinate, but not to worry. When it rains that also helps to push the seed onto the soil.

I've never felt the need to rent a roller, but then I have a rider mower that acts much in the same way when I run it all over the lawn.

From your pics it looks like you have some weeds trying get a foothold, but I wouldn't worry about that right now...a little Spectracide or Ortho will do the trick in the spring.