Had new lawn installed 9/2012 seed was even 3-way mixture of tall fescues: Bullseye, Falcon V and Monet. Seed sprouted in 7 days and was fairly full by the spring - a few bare spots but not bad, considering how new it was. In June had professional apply Allectus and Acclaim Extra to lawn (the latter to control for stilt grass).

Then we had very wet period, and I saw tons of mushrooms in the lawn. And then brown areas apperare, which spread throughout the lawn. Professional said not to worry - grass would grow back. By late August, it had not; and now I need to re-seed significantly. Cannot order same mixture as last year - it was replaced for better performance, and is now 3-way split of Bullseye, Hemi and Mustang 4. So perhaps the original mixture was partly to blame.

Here is the question: I need to re-seed, so I have been raking out dead grass. There are large patches of dead grass, but also a good deal of dried yellow grass (not from clippings) throughout the lawn. I figured I should get rid of that as well and overseed the entire lawn, particularly since the new mixture may look different from the original. It is very laborious and I am wondering if there is a machine I can use. (Currently using a leaf rake to bring dead grass to surface, and then using lawn mower to vacuum up the fluffy brown stuff.) I know about de-thatchers, but there really isn't any actual thatch and I am afraid of hurting the roots of the remaining grass with the dethatcher. Any suggestions on how to proceed? Lawn is approx 5,000 sq feet.