Level, level, level. If you have holes and high spots, you should work on lowering the high spots and filling the holes. You'll find every one if you mow at your mower's lowest setting a time or two. Other than that, if your drainage is working now, don't bring in more topsoil. You might search this forum for topics on leveling - specifically leveling bermuda. The idea is to fill the holes without changing drainage. Adding topsoil always changes drainage.

What are the plusses for rototilling? If you look at the old books on prepping for a lawn, they don't tell you to rototill. I believe Scott's website recommends rototilling, but I believe they are wrong. I worked in the finish grading biz in Southern California when I was in college, and rototilling was never done by the professionals. The only tools they used were shovels (my job) and a tractor with a box blade. The soil in the spots where I worked was beautiful even though the owners

My yard has very little real grass in it, but when I keep it mowed at the mower's highest setting, it looks more or less normal especially if you're just driving by. You can take this summer to practice good lawn care (watering, mowing, and fertilizing). That's excellent prep for when you get the real sod.

Round up is a lot less work if you're not averse to using it. If you have any nutgrass then add a sedge killer to the RU. RU twice, as you have planned, should work well. A sod cutter won't get the lower parts of certain weeds. If you use RU this summer then by next summer you'll have to use it again. Mother Nature will find something to put in there by then.

dchall....thanks for the feedback. Especially the leveling. I hadn't really thought about leveling before install, but reading other's experiences, it seems like a must! From what I've read in other threads, seems like scalping the yard is a must. Could I do a first round of roundup sometime next month, then do the leveling? That would give me basically a completely grass/weed free surface to do the leveling with. One thing that I didn't see in the threads I read on leveling was how much sand I should be shooting for. It looks (from pictures) like a fair amount. I saw 4 cu yards for 2k in one post. You had replied in that thread to the effect that you didn't need that much if you scalped the yard. If I'm operating from a dead yard type situation or completely scalped, are we talking about 0.25" depth on average? I'm working with about 3k square feet. The yard basically two levels with a flat top, then a gentle slope to a flat bottom level. No drainage problems as far as I can tell. I'm thinking 3 cu yards of sand should be enough to get the job done?

Top dressing calculator

https://www.gcsaa.org/solutions/top-dressing 

I think the pages that dc normally references on leveling with sand state them using ~0.5 yards sand per 1000 sq/ft of land. That's what I'm going with for project.

At your 0.25" depth you are looking at ~ 0.8 cu yards of sand per 1000 sq/ft, so ~2.5 yards total for you project (1 yard more than would be need if going by the suggested amounts). The other issue is repeating the leveling process. Many folks level their lawns 2+ times to get their desired results.

You're not trying to build up depth by leveling. You're only trying to fill the holes and bring down the high spots. Start by lowering the high spots and pushing that soil into the holes. Theoretically you might not need any sand at all. The original originator of this leveling topic bought his sand by the bag so he could return any unused sand he had.

Once you get the grass and weeds out of there, you'll know a lot more about how much work it will be.

If you were to scalp instead of removing the grass, you would use a lot more sand, because you cannot see every hole and high spot even through the scalped turf. When it's essentially bald you'll see every bump.

Great. I was thinking that by doing the leveling after Roundup Round 1 I could minimize the amount of sand needed.

While we're on the new lawn business, do any of you have an opinion on turf type? I'm in North Alabama (southern transition zone, zone 7a/7b line). The sod provider I've been thinking of going with is a local provider. They have Tifway 419, Rebel Exceda Fescue w/KBG, and Emerald Zoysia. The area I'm putting sod in is basically full sun (maybe some shade in one part for the last hour or two of the day, but definitely 9+hours/day). Fescue/KBG seems out to me....both seem prone to browning in the summer here in full sun. My only experiences with bermuda are with sod installed by builders at housing sites. Generally seems to be coarse-blade, not particularly green, not nice to walk on. I also have not generally been a fan of how easily the bermuda takes over my gardens.

Because of the reasons above, I've been leaning heavily towards the Emerald Zoysia. It seems to combine some of the characteristics of bermuda (wear resistant, pretty drought resistant) with some other characteristics that I like (finer bladed, darker green color). It also isn't quite as "invasive" from what I've read (which obviously also means it won't repair itself as quickly as bermuda).

Any advice or pros/cons on the two varieties?

Yeah...that is a much finer blade than I'm used to seeing on Bermuda that builder's sod with around here. That looks really nice! How long ago did you install it? Good thing I have until the spring to decide:-) Would welcome anyone else's pros/cons, too. Obviously pictures are good, but I know you can have a great looking yard with either. What are some objective pros/cons that might not be captured in literature you can find from extension services?

How long/between what months will warm season grasses stay green in Northern Alabama?

Aprilish through October is the best bet. Spring green-up can vary pretty widely here b/c our springs vary a lot from year to year. But mid-April is probably a good bet for when things really start greening up.

That pic is 5 year old Tif 419

My last house I put down by hand 1200 sqft of zoysia sod. It was beautiful! What I did was rent a dingo with this

Matt, in the south the builders almost universally use TIF 419, which is one of the best all around turf grasses you can get at any price. When TIF 419 was first developed (1960) the price was prohibitive for anyone but football teams. But since then every sod farmer has it, so the price is lower than virtually any other sod. In this case "builder's grade" is exceptional. 419 should cost about $50 per pallet. There are nicer TIF grasses now which cost more like $250 per pallet, but the improvement over 419 is only visible to the grass connoisseur. If you want to have the lawn of the month, that's easy with 419.

If you wanted to try and get the more expensive type of grass, you can do that by sprigging. The idea with that is to buy 2 small pieces of TIF Sport for $10, wash the soil off, chop up the remaining grass/roots/stolons, and scatter those over your perfectly prepared bed. It will catch on and you'll have a TIF Sport lawn for $10 and some labor. Search this forum for topics with sprigging bermuda. This idea was started by an Aussie, so look for his posts (with pictures).

The only challenge with that method is finding someone who will sell you less than a full pallet of an improved type like celebration or tifsport. It's hard enough to find 419 by the square... I paid $108 per pallet for my celebration & I've been thrilled with it. Far superior to the 419 I have out back up to this point, but like DC said, about twice the cost of 419. Tifsport & tifgrand were way too difficult to find in my area.

So my feeling, at least in this thread, is that Tif 419 is favored over the Emerald Zoysia. Reeljake...I saw the pictures of your Celebration Bermuda. It looks great.

Just to try to flesh out my understanding here...dchall and jake...did you choose bermuda (tif 419, celebration, or whatever other varieites you might have) because of aesthetics? Drought tolerance/growing conditions locally? Wear tolerance? Something else?

@dchall....maybe the neighborhood I bought into 7 years ago when I moved here (don't live in that house anymore....but it was brand new development) said bermuda and put in something else. Tif 419 is a pretty fine bladed grass, correct? Whatever sod they were installing as "bermuda" was pretty coarse bladed. Certainly not sports field/golf course like.

I think I'm going to try to go out to at least one of the sod farms around here and actually look at the turf types, observe their growing habits.

While I"m asking a ton of questions....what's the reasoning behind the Emerald Zoysia costing about 50% more than the Tif 419? Is it desireability? Maintenance/growing costs? I think I'm having a problem reconciling what I've thought of as bermuda (this medium/coarse bladed grass....maybe common bermuda that isn't particularly attractive but is hardy and grows into everything) with some of the pictures I"m seeing on here of bermuda (fine bladed, dense, darker in color than that that was sodded in my yard). Really do want to go with the combo of what is best for my yard and best looking vs just choosing something because of the name.

Sounds like you may be confusing Bermuda with St. Augustine. It's more coarse textured.

I did not choose Bermuda, I bought into a new development like you & their people chose Bermuda due to the drought that hit Texas. Some neighbors hate it & wish they could have St. Augustine, but I love it. When the giant oak trees they planted shaded out my Bermuda up front, I chose to upgrade to celebration due to its shade tolerance.

Zoysia is expensive because it grows painfully slow. Hence the issues with availability.

Well, I'm familiar w/St. Augustine and had never really given any thought to that being what it was. I don't live there anymore, so no need to belabor it really....but I suppose it could've been. Seemed much too agressive for St. Aug and I thought it had stolons and rhizomes.

I guess best bet might be to go out to the sod farm and look at the types to make sure I know what I'm getting?

You say that Zoysia is expensive b/c it grows painfully slow....I suppose that can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on perspective. But beyond that reason, does zoysia have any advantages over bermuda?

If I went bermuda, thoughts on seeding vs sodding? How difficult would it be to go from seed if I wanted to do a bermuda variety not available as sod (e.g. if I wanted to go with something like Celebration (@reeljake - you mentioned shade tolerance...eventually I'll be redoing another section of my yard that is partial shade...would be nice to have continuity with the back yard when I get to redo that section).

And let me say thanks for all of this input. Y'all have given made this a much harder decision than when I started...more to think about than I thought.

A lot of people consider zoysia slow growth to be a benefit--You don't have to mow it nearly as often as Bermuda!

The seed vs. Sod debate in Bermuda is fairly straightforward. It takes serious heat, tons of attention, fertilizer, a lot of water & a touch of good luck to get seed to pop. Once it does, full coverage takes about 2 seasons. With sod, you lay it, you water it & you're done. Full coverage immediately.

You'll have to price it out depending on your site, but as DC said earlier the cheap 419 is $50 or so per pallet, which covers about 500 sq ft. The good stuff should be about twice that cost & delivery charge depends on where you are. Seed will be cheaper, but remember to factor in all that water & fertilizer cost. I can tell you I will personally never mess with seed again, it's just not worth it in my opinion.

At $100/ksf sod seems like a no brainer to me.

The one sod farm around here who has prices on their website, Tifway 419 is $100/pallet (450 square feet) = $222/ksf. The emerald zoysia from the same place is $514/square foot. From what y'all are saying, that seems kind of high for both based on this thread.

Will be doing some shopping around, I suppose.

Sodsolutions.com/wheretobuy. That'll show you the real sod farms that carry name brand stuff--I would bet they will all have 419 as well.