You don't dig up a Bermuda grass lawn to replace it. You spray it dead with an herbicide. That is Act 1 in the process.

Bermuda's Pros are heat tolerant (it's actually native to India), drought tolerant, soil tolerant (grows on almost any soil type), insect damage resistant, allows overseeding, and is resilient to high traffic.

Bermuda's Cons are not cold tolerant (goes dormant during winter but can be overseeded with another grass in the fall), not shade tolerant (becomes thin without enough sun), aggressive grower that can get into flower beds, requires regular mowing at least once a week.

What could be wrong: Zone 7 is the northernmost area where Bermuda grass can be grown, and varieties with extra cold tolerance such as Yukon, Mohawk and Riviera are recommended. You could try overseeding how with one of these more cold tolerant varieties. And, lots of sun each day really is important for the health of Bermuda. If your lawn gets less than 6 hours sun, you should try a more shade tolerant grass.

Regular mowing is a must. Bermuda can be cut quite short, but it must be cut regularly. If it grows faster because it rained or was fertilized, you need to mow more often. If you normally set your mower to 2" you need to mow Bermuda whenever the grass gets 3" tall. If where you live is subject to drought it could be better to set your mower height to 3". You still need to mow regularly, i.e. when your grass gets about 4 1/4" tall, but the extra height shades the soil and the roots. Should you be unable to cut your grass for a while, make several cuts that remove only 1/3 of the total length, i.e. cut 5" grass to 3 1/2" high, then after 3 or 4 days cut 4" grass to 2 2/3" high.

Thanks for the information. Yes I like aspects of the Bermuda but it seems to be poor at suppressing new weeds. Sure I know much depends on regimens of weed prevention, but like the idea that has a baseline strength of choking out other weeds... which doesn’t seem to be a strength of Bermuda. Also I have a side of my house that because of location really only gets maybe 2-3 hrs of good sunlight. As such, this particular section is very thin and thus has a much bigger weed problem. To make matters worse, this part is on a slope and I’ve had some issues with erosion there as well. I suppose I could put a shade tolerant grass in that one area, but probably would look odd and be fighting with what little Bermuda is able to survive growing there.

You might consider rye in the winter, I get a solid 6-8 months of rye use then the bermuda and weeds kick in for the summer. It's worked for me and I love the green all winter.

Where do you live? The only thing zones are used for is to estimate winter cold temperatures.

How much shade do you have over the lawn area? Does it get full sun all day?

Are you willing to water one inch every week in the hottest heat of summer?

Are there pets or children playing on the lawn?

Centipede only grows well in very acidic, rotten soil. Is that what you have?

Growing bermuda between houses is a lost cause. Try a different ground cover or plant a shade loving garden in there.

Bermuda can be pretty good at stopping weeds if you 1) water deeply and infrequently, 2) mow it low two times per week, and 3) fertilize heavily once every month through the entire growing season. That will give you a very dense, weed-stopping turf.