Hedgehog

I live in North Carolina in a neighborhood that used to be a pasture. There's no shade at all. We have temps in the 90s all summer, with high humidity.

The house is two years old. The lawn...well...

The lawn is sod, fescue I assume, that was rolled out as cheaply as possible by the builder. The ground underneath is red clay, which was scratched with a rake before the turf was rolled out. There's no underlayment, and last years drought (illegal to water it) didn't help. We're getting enough rain this summer, but the all-day sun isn't helping.

What I have is a bit of grass growing amidst a shitload of thatch from the grass that died. Since the dead grass was part of the sod, it doesn't want to rake up. There are bald patches that I can't get grass to grow in.

When I seed, it doesn't germinate, probably because it doesn't ever hit dirt. The weeds seem to be doing nicely, probably because they all have nice, long taproots. I have to go out and pull them up every week or so.

Advice? I don't have any money budgeted for major grass replacement. I've got to try to make the existing grass be more viable.