Please help find studs in plaster walls

[Jamie Buxton]

Why cut the slot? Use a drill as a probe. Make a line where the chair rail will eventually go. Drill holes through the plaster along it. When you poke through the plaster+lath into air, that feels very different from poking through into a stud. Mark where you find studs. Use found studs to give you an estimate about where to find the next one.

[Doug Sewell]

A metal detector should work. It should find the nails that a holding the lath on.

[Joe Scharle]

Those super magnets will find drywall screws. The big ones will stick to the wall.

[Jason White]

+1 on using a drill with a small bit as a probe. Just be sure what you're hitting is a stud or corner bracing and not the wooden lath. You'll be able to "feel" when you hit a stud, or at least you'll see wood on the end of the drill bit. Much easier and less messy than a sawzall.

Jason

Why cut the slot? Use a drill as a probe. Make a line where the chair rail will eventually go. Drill holes through the plaster along it. When you poke through the plaster+lath into air, that feels very different from poking through into a stud. Mark where you find studs. Use found studs to give you an estimate about where to find the next one.