Beginner Gardening: Bumpy Lawn, 1 by danludwig

danludwig wrote:
Back in 2004 the gas company installed new lines on my street. At my house though, they put back more dirt than they dug up. There is a large bump that was growing over the concrete. I have graded it back from the sidewalk as a temporary fix, but would like this bump (and other smaller ones) leveled out.

I know one solution would be to kill all of the grass, till everything under, grade and level, then sow new seed in the fall. Is this a drastic measure, or necessary for any kind of near-term results (2 or fewer years)? Other parts of my lawn are bumpy, to the point where mowing is like off-roading -- there are many parts where the mower won't sit with all 4 wheels on the ground.

The lawn hasn't been core aerated or dethatched in at least 5 years. Would core aeration & dethatching smooth out a lot of the less severe unleveled parts of the lawn? Or would it be a better idea to, like I said, till everything under, level, then grow new grass? I wouldn't mind the latter since I want to reseed with Scotts Thermal Blue anyhow, but I could accomplish this with a couple years of overseeding. I just don't want to do that, then realize I have to tear up 2 years of work to get rid of these bumps.

Thanks!