I'm confused about the nature of the damage. Can you walk us through all the steps you did in preparation for the renovation? Something is missing. Start with how you cared for the lawn before you decided to renovate.

Yes, reseed now and look up the term, 'dormant seeding.'

The damage was done by the weight on the wheels of my lawn vacuuming equipment making multiple passes over the tender new grass.

Dave

A little late but...

I meant to overseed in early November. Life intervened. Oh well. I tossed out some seed the week after thanksgiving along with some fertilizer. I didn't water.

Well, I've got short grass almost everywhere. I guess you can do everything "wrong" and still turn out alright.

*** Raleigh NC experience only. Obviously you are going to get any germination under a couple feet of snow.

The damage was done by the weight on the wheels of my lawn vacuuming equipment making multiple passes over the tender new grass.

Sure it was, but the equipment would not do any damage if the lawn had been properly prepared. That's why I asked for your preparation process. If you continue doing it the way you have already done it, you'll have the same problem every time.