Severe water damage and repair

[HoPInn]

Hello,
I tried doing a search, but either I am doing something wrong or I can't figure out this forum.
I recently started to tear down the front left corner of my 1999 Nomad 24' travel trailer.
I am a total newbie at repairing trailers. I have experience with rebuilding inside of houses, but not this. I am a bit stressed and hoping I can find some answers or helpful hints.
First off I have started tearing out the inside of the left front and there is severe damage to the window frame and surrounding wood work.
My first question is; is it safe to just tear out the existing frame or should I have some kind of support structure in place, in case it collapses.
Second question; when I do go get new wood, what type of treated wood should I get and what size? Do I have to rip the wood down to size?
Third Question; what kind of staple gun should I get..can I rent these as I don't want to purchase and extremely expensive one just for this job.
Please be kind to me as I am determined to do this myself and have a ton of questions. I have watched as many Youtube videos as possible, but out of the dozens I have watched or searched for, only one looks anything like my problem. Most just show before and after. I need "during" NOT SURE WHY MY PHOTO IS TURNED.sorry
Thanks!!

[BFlinn181]

As to supporting the roof, it depends on how much structure you're pulling out. Putting a prop to brace or support the ceiling doesn't have to be screwed and glued, just wedged into place.

You most likely will have to buy kiln dried dimensional lumber and rip to to the sizes you need, typical furring strips are usually pretty poor quality. Not sure pressure treated wood is what you want, it's usually very heavy and wet, when it dries out it shrinks.

As for staples, you'll need to measure how thick the wood is you wish to staple. You want the fasteners to be shorter than the thickness so they don't go through the side. I'd use screws as much as possible, only staple if you can't use screws. Then check with local tool rental stores. Home Depot has a pretty good tool rental dept. in our area. I'm not sure what you're looking for, I have manual, air, and electric staplers for a variety of applications.

Take lots of photos as you remove the 'skin' so you'll have a record of how the wall was built first time.

[sprayman]

make sure you use stainless fasteners

[AFChap]

And the window may need to be removed and re-sealed ...looks like that may be the source of the water leak.

[HoPInn]

Thanks,
I do not think the upper half is rot. I will know tomorrow.
Right now I have the bottom skin on the front of trailer taken off and the inside left side. I know I would have to use support when I replace the floor and bottom support. I am achingly horrible at cutting straight line, so hoping I can get Lowes (no homedepot here), to do rip these boards. Also everyone I talked to said to use staples because that is what is in there now. Window will be coming out.

[HoPInn]

You mean stainless steel staples?

[HoPInn]

Unfortunately, yes it was the window. Not sure how long it had been leaking but I repaired it last year and (the water) stopped. I have only had trailer for two years and it looks like it has been like this for some time. Going to take out all windows and re-tape them and seal them too.

[ralphie]

If you're only taking out a couple of feet of side support you're probably okay with no supports; any more and I'd just slip a 2x2 between the floor and ceiling. You don't need treated wood at all. Can't answer your question about wood size; depends on what you rip out. A narrow gauge stapler that shoots 3/4 to 1-1/4" staples will be fine. No need to go with stainless staples since this is all inside work and it will never leak again, right? I saw a show last year, I think it's called "Vintage Trailers" or something like that. If you can find and record the series you might get some good ideas.