When it comes to renovating a lawn, Power rake machine is hands down the best. I don't know why everybody never think about this machine and still go with power tiller.

That's what I used on my neighbor's lawn this weekend to get rid of ALIVE bermuda. It sure got the job done getting most of it out and still till up the surface soil for better contact with the new grass (st augustine). Way better than bring in sand to sugarcoat it which was too expensive and labor breaking back.

It was crazy. I went there saturday around 8am to give him some advice. It dawned me me that the neighbor has NOT DONE ANYTHING and the new grass was coming around 10am! I had explained to him in detail on what he should do to prep the lawn MONTHS AGO. Needless to say, bermuda will come back and blend in st augustine but he's planning to plant several trees in the fall since he has no trees at all. Usually, I'd never recommend st augustine lawn if anyone isn't serious about having trees because neighbors have bermuda and they will only invade st augustine due to full sun.

Anyway, ALWAYS GO WITH POWER RAKE, not power tiller. I've played with heavy duty power rake growing up for my dad's large vegetable garden and it was always very fluffy and it's easy to sink your feet deep into the ground and can be a nightmare when it rains a lot...