This week was even more stairs prep. I did a another pass pulling out staples and it seemed like every time I looked more staples cropped up. Most snapped when I tried to pry out so it was mostly using the locking pliers to rip them out. A few I couldn't get a hold of and started tapping them down.

I kept sanding but it seemed like the old finish got so glossy that it was no longer coming up so I went back to the scraper. The scraper worked well pulling up the top layer of paint and stuck with the scraping for the bulk of the work. I then was doing hand sanding to reach the spots the orbital sander couldn't hit. 

After I had things sanded, I started applying wood filler to the holes in the wood and the bigger dents. I'm not looking to get a glassy smooth surface so I think I'm going to wrap up sanding next time and start on painting. I also met with a carpenter to replace the OCB step with one made out of pine. 

Doing research it seems like mixed opinions whether I need to prime stairs before painting. Most say I need to get porch paint for the stairs, but I want them in custom colors and it seems like Behr doesn't offer that, but my paint chips are from Behr. I'm thinking of going to a paint store to match the color and see if I can get a custom porch paint color.

To finish up I started wiping things down with TSP and Shop Vac'ing all of the dust up. Next week will be the start of priming/painting.