Stair Project Day 2

Day 2 started with removing the flooring from underneath the stairs and adding temporary bracing underneath the landing and stairs.

With the temporary bracing in, I can remove the wall studs. These three studs will be replaced by a 2x6 header and new studs to make room for the pantry doors.
This is a view looking up at the connection between the landing (top of picture) and the stair assembly (bottom). Note the gap between them, and the exposed screws. When we had the house inspected before purchase, the inspector pointed out to us that there should be a filler piece in that gap so that the screws wouldn't be exposed. Also, the couple lag screws were the only connection of the stairs to the landing, and it has sagged over time. We'll make this connection more stout when we put everything back together.
Another challenge is these two outlets that are located under the landing. According to code, they cannot be 'buried'. They should be accessible in case there's a problem with an outlet down the road. I'll design the pantry to be easily removable so that we can access the outlets for maintenance later, if needed.
After cutting a few screws, and pulling out about 1,000 carpet tacks, the stairs can be removed.
Here's the landing, sans stairs, with the wood filler pieces installed. The temporary bracing is holding!
With the stairs out of the way, the rest of the flooring underneath is removed. The stairs will be moved back tomorrow and re-attached to the landing.