From woodland to lawn, any advice?

[Leafin]

Hello there,

I live in WNY, and the other day we removed 2 maples for a lady who lives in a sloped area surrounded by woods, the whole mini-community practically resembles cabins nestled in circular woodland plots. After packing up and checking with the boss, the homeowner started talking about trying to establish a lawn around the house, and sure enough, my boss looks at me, and I say, sure! After working in the tree field for a few years I've done a million different things I never thought I would be doing, so I figured this would be easy, at least I hope!

Ill post some pics when I can, but there's a considerable amount of sunlight getting to the ground around the house, I plan on removing the understory shrubs and trees, dropping a few more to free up some more sunlight, but the place is nestled in so tight between ravines, there's no way I can get a stump grinder to the stumps, and a dozer is out of the question. I have a skidsteer, grapple, bucket, chipper, and all the little tools I should need, but I'm just looking for any tips from someone with some lawn experience. If I can get the top organic matter down about 4", to bare earth, can I rototill/grate/rake and grade with the skidsteer, and just run with that soil without bringing in any loads? The soil is a little acidic, I could lime it to bring it down, and if all goes as planned up to this point, would hydro seeding be a better option than traditional seeding?

We don't do any serious landscaping/hardscaping, so this is more of a learn as I go process on the side, the homeowner says she just wants to take a shot in the dark and try it, and see what happens.

Thanks, well appreciated.

 

[sgreanbeans]

Hyrdoseeding would be better

 

[Zale]

Take a soil test. That will give you a starting point. Without pictures, hydro could be your best bet.

 

[beastmaster]

You should look into natural, native grasses. Their pretty hardy and take less care then common lawn grasses. I don't know a lot about your area, but here in So Ca. you almost have to have irrigation for a lawn to survive, I don't know if that's the case where your at but something to keep in mind.
Even if you hydro seed(the best option) you still need to see whats going to come up from the newly disturbed dirt and hit it with round up before seeding or you may be infested with weeds.
We lay a lot of sod out here. There are pros and cons to each Technic. With sod you can lay it over anything almost and it'll smother the weeds already in the soil and you have instant yard.
There are grasses that do well in low light, shaded area's , do a little research and pick the best one to fit the location. Also keep in mind drainage and fall so runoff goes away from the house. good Luck

 

[Leafin]

Thanks for the advice guys, it's well appreciated. Ill throw some pics up tomorrow, planning on doing a soil test. If all goes well, ill throw a before and after on when it's wrapped up.