Will Brought in an expert and he verified the triv plague. It has horizontal growth and when it gets tall, it falls over showing brown under-growth. Actually pretty in the early spring when its short (beware) It grew unbelievably fast and the expert said if I didn't act quickly and decidedly I would have to contact a golf course to use one of their greens mowers. So it was 2 rounds of Roundup at least 18" past the known edge of the triv. Used my power rake to pull up the dead turf. That was almost a mistake because the viney triv kept wrapping around the spindle. It worked out OK because I had a perfectly contoured base for replanting. I live by Michigan State University and they have a wealth of "Green" info. We prefer to use "Spartan Grade A". Its a Kentucky Blue mix with some drought resistant/ winter resistant strains. Works for us Yankees here. Good luck Mark

Okay back to the original issue. You have brown grass which is likely caused by too much water. It could be a fungal disease that killed the grass. Or it could be drowning by cutting off the air to the roots. In any case that grass is likely dead. Can you post another picture of the brown grass taken at a distance of 3 inches? And can you take it in the shade so we can see the grass with no shadows? Often we can see the fungus if there is any. It will also help identify the grass. I suspect this grass is a type of dwarf tall fescue called Marathon. It is all the rage in SoCal. If so then the grass will not spread by itself to refill the dead grass or the places where you pull out the St Augustine. The only way to get that grass back is to bring in more sod or find Marathon seed. There are three different Marathon grasses. They are Marathon, Marathon II, and III. Each one is dwarfier than the previous one. If you can visit with the people at Home Depot, they might be able to tell you which one they sell - or even if it was Marathon. If you mix Marathon III with Marathon, you'll notice a difference. If you want to be very safe in fertilizing, then use an organic fertilizer. It will be safe no matter what you're doing with the grass. Beyond organic, I cannot advise you. I have not bought chemical fertilizer in over 10 years. Organic fertilizer is hard to find in SoCal. My favorite is alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow). Here is a link to feed stores near you. Call around to get prices and availability before you make the drive. They are scattered around.

Your flooring is something that is one of the most visible areas in your home and if you're not happy with it now, you'll never be happy. Personally, I'd stop the GC now and not let him continue. Get in a flooring specialist(s) asap and get some bids. Your GC should give you credit back on the finish he's done since he apparently doesn't know what he's doing. Spot sanding footprints was a clue that he was in over his head! Letting him continue may make for more work and expense for the flooring contractor.

Here's how you take care of St Aug. You're not going to agree, but I assure you, it works. <b>Watering</b> Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means 2.5 to 3 cm every time you water. You're going to have to figure out for yourself how your watering system applies water. Here in the states we use cat food or tuna cans. They are about 3cm high. We put several out on the lawn, turn on the sprinkler, and check the time. Come back in 20 minutes to see if the cans are full. Likely they will NOT be. Keep checking back until they are filled. The time it took to fill your cans is the time you will always water in the future. Infrequently means no more than once per week when the temps are higher than 30C. NO MORE OFTEN THAN THAT. If you have a full week higher than 35C, then you can go to once very 5 days. The only way this works is when you water deeply. With temps between 25 and 30C, you should only water once every 2 weeks. Between 20 and 25C you can back off to once every 3 weeks. Below 20C and you should still water once per month. If you get rain, then you should watch the grass for signs of wilting before you water again. The point of watering like this is to allow the soil surface to completely dry out before you water again. Most weed seeds must have continual moisture to germinate. When the soil surface dries out all the time, the weeds cannot get started. There are other benefits to deep watering, but this should do for now. <b>Mowing</b> Mow St Aug at your mower's highest setting. In fact have your adjuster welded into position so you can never change it. There is never any reason to mow St Aug lower than the highest position. Tall St Aug further helps to keep weeds out, because any weed seeds which do germinate must have sunlight to get started. The wide blades of St Aug grass do not allow enough light down to the soil where the weed seeds are trying to get started. I have a yard that I keep "mowed" down to 30 cm. Yes, 30 cm. I have to use a string trimmer to do that, but the grass seems to love being that tall. I have another yard where I let it grow up to 70 cm. It grows find and looks amazing flowing in the breeze. <b>Fertilizing</b> Since you are already fertilizing with organics, I suggest you pick up the pace. Unless you have a continual supply of kilos of coffee grounds, you should buy something like alfalfa pellets (Rabbit Chow, Fish Chow, Chinchilla Chow, or whatever is cheap at your local feed store). Coffee grounds are fine but they are low quality (low protein value). Alfalfa has about double the effectiveness of coffee grounds. A good application rate for coffee grounds would be 11 to 15 kilos per 100 square meters. But a good application rate for alfalfa pellets would be more like 5-10 kilos per 100. With organics you can fertilizer any day of the year, or every day of the year without fear of hurting anything. As for timing your fertilizer I suggest once in late winter (about a month before the date of your average last frost), once again in late May, again in mid July, again in early September, and again in late November. If you have national holidays the come close to those times, then use those holidays to remember the timing. If you follow these guidelines your grass will take over almost all the grassy weeds. There are some broadleaf weeds which will shade out St Aug so those will have to be either pulled or sprayed. I believe you don't have access to the really effective sprays we can still use on this side of the pond. Pulling will be your best bet. Here's a picture of 70cm tall St Augustine. The grass above is on the edge of the Texas desert and had not had any water for the previous six months. It also grows in 100% shade under a dense live oak tree and with my house as a block for the afternoon sun. The following picture shows the effectiveness of alfalfa pellets. The picture was posted to GW by mrmumbles in 2010. The grass is zoysia. He applied the alfalfa pellets in mid May and took the picture in mid June a month later. You can clearly see the improved color, density, and growth. Hope this helps.