Hello all. I've been lurking around here for quite some time now and finally fed up with my messed up lawn.
To begin with -
Background Information:

1. Where you live? Brooklyn Park, MN

2. What type of grass you have? No clue

3. What products you have applied to your lawn, and how much? These include fertilizer, herbicide, fungicide, insecticide, etc. Weed B Gon last summer, sprayed liberally on weeds

4. How often and how long you irrigate? In ground sprinklers turn on for 15 minutes every other day in the morning around 8am.

5. Is the lawn established, or have you recently seeded/re-seeded or added sod? If so, when? Established.

6. At what height you mow and how often? Not sure of the exact height but I mow at the highest level on my Yard-Man riding mower. Frequency...depends on weather and look of yard. I usually mow it when the neighbors do so mine doesn't look uneven.

7. Results of soil test if applicable.

Specifically describe the problem being as descriptive as possible:
The lawn in the front looks decent, but not as good as the neighbor to left, his is dark green and very uniform. Mine has dead/brown grass at the soil level, not very dense, and I have a mix of grasses growing. I went to the purdue website to identify the grass but my phone doesn't have java. From what I read, it is indeed a grass but it seems to be towering over the thin bladed grass. It's more prevalent in the frontyard. How do I get rid of it? or can anyone identify the thin bladed grass so I can overseed(correct terminology?)?
The backyard is a mess right now because I'm building a shed and retaining wall--read, bobcat tracks and piles of excavated dirt. I have tried to rake the soil around so the underlying sod can see daylight but it's a lot of work doing it by hand. Can I just flatten out the soil on top and reseed? When do I reseed?

Some more issues: moles AND gophers (sorry peta folks, but I laid some victor traps last year and got rid of 2 moles and 2 gophers), ant hills all over the back yard.
I spread some granular ant killing insecticides last year and watered it according to instructions but it didn't seem to work.

Priorities -
1. Restore lawn in back yard
2. Get rid of brown grass under green grass
3. Kill weeds for good
4.Homogenize front yard

{{gwi:93483}}

8. Entire lawn is affected or a specific area(s)?see problem description

9. If it is a specific area, what is different about this area? This can include: Shade, standing water, insects/pests, weeds, moss, rocks, heavy traffic, etc. Also, if the problem area is ring-shaped or spreading in any way.

10. If your problem is with weeds, what type of weeds? Not sure what they are, crabgrass and dandelions I believe.

11. How long you have noticed this problem and it is recurring? Since I moved in 2 winters ago. Yes, the past summer is when I first noticed the missing patches of grass and lack of grass density in most of the yard.

Solution:

12. Do you have a preference towards a synthetic or organic solution? No

13. Past efforts to remedy the problem.
Weed b gon, granular insectide
14. Are any solutions not feasible? (hand pulling weeds for 2+ acres, daily watering, etc.) No.