Where do you live?

What kind of grass is coming out of the yard?

What kind of grass is going into the yard?

Is that pure sand for soil?

Where do you live? I live in south Seattle (WA).

What kind of grass is coming out of the yard? The last owner had sod, so I had to break it. Its mostly old dead grass. Should I put it in compost bin?

What kind of grass is going into the yard? I just bought Scott Turf builder seed. Planning to plant them this weekend.

Is that pure sand for soil? Not sure the difference. I assume its soil, because it came from the existing lawn. I plan to get about 4 cubic yards of top soil on the weekend before seeding.

I would be concerned about the soil settling after planting the seed. Are you planning on rolling it after apply some top soil? Is that sloped near the fence? If so I would cover the seed with peat moss or a new grass mulch to help keep seed from running off during watering. Good luck and keep us posted.

It has been raining, for past week, so don't you think soil would already be settled? I didn't till deep. There is a slope near the fence, and thanks for the peat moss recommendation.

That doesn't look like too much dead grass. I would keep those, but even them out. They will decompose under your new (or even current) soil and add nutrients to your lawn.

I know it's Monday, but if there's a chance you have not received the 4 yards of soil, you don't need it. Unless you have major low spots, you don't need any more soil. Adding soil always changes the drainage and almost never for the better.

They say that lawn rolling increases soil to seed contact to increase germination, however raking it in or putting a top dressing can also be effective. I tilled before seeding and have a lot of weeds coming up, but I planted a little earlier in Sept for our Seattle weather here.

A quick update. We had early November snow in south WA and my lawn was covered with snow.

Does it mean I'd have to re-seed in spring?

I would imagine you’ll most likely need to reseed. Some might make it, but new seedlings need time to establish.

zoumbi - I don't mean to be overly critical, but you did a number of things wrong, or let's say maybe you did some things that were probably not necessary. I know you came here to find out whether to remove the dead grass before adding topsoil, but there are other concerns, like whether you should be adding topsoil and whether you did everything else recommended for a successful reseed.

You should consider doing some reading in this forum and asking questions so that you are better prepared to do something in the spring. Spring is not the preferred time to seed, but Seattle is pretty mild in the summer and you might get away with it. In hotter climate, seedlings planted in the spring very often die out in the heat of the summer, wasting a lot of effort. There are other reasons that fall seeding is preferred.

Sharing updated pictures.

@gardengal48, I agree. It was a good journey and I learned a lot. And it looks better than the pics.

@gardengal I just noticed that I made that comment about not seeding in the spring, although I did occur to me that doing so in Seattle might be OK. I was just following the rule of thumb about seeding in the fall, but I'm happy to learn new things. Is it actually better to seed in the spring rather than fall west of the Cascades? Why?

@zoumbi: Spectacular results!!! You kicked a$$ on that mud patch. Congrats!

gardengal said, "One of the things I find rather disturbing about this forum is the
uniform application of very generalized lawn care practices for any
location."

I could say that about every lawn care forum with very few exceptions. I would say that 10x over about every university lawn care website and every single lawn care expert on YouTube ever. Even the Scott's website is guilty. One of the things I like about the forum format is that we can adapt as we learn from folks like gardengal, and that guy from Phoenix, and those guys from Upstate NY and Eastern PA and Tampa, etc. We just don't get that many PNW folks with problems to learn from. I think I have learned that spring is a perfectly fine time for seeding there for a couple reasons. One is they don't have the summer heat factor, and the other is they don't seem to have the crabgrass pressure we see in most of the rest of the country. Some of the New England states have similar conditions as does the far upper Midwest. This is why it is monumentally important to understand the location of the OP from the git-go. On another forum I participate in, before they launched I insisted that users could not register without stating their location. This works except for the few who say, 'Midwest,' or 'Zone 6,' or some other vague reference. It allows the repliers to tailor their replies to the situation without having to ask the necessary questions.

I am also interested in the answer to danielj's question.

We wing it as best we can with the information we're given.

I find some stuff disturbing as well, but there it is.