Walls and Ceilings - Studs too far apart, help

I bought an old farm house. It must have been built before studs were invented. The walls are plaster and lath. I was going to just rip it all down and drywall but cost is a major issue. Here is the problem I tore out a section to replace with drywall like it said to in the "How to repair", surprise, surprise, the studs are 28" on center. Now I have to pull an even bigger part off because there aren't any studs to screw the drywall to. Can I just screw the drywall to the lath? :wall:
I would like to just replaster, but don't know what to use. All I can find at the local home center is plaster of paris. Is that the right stuff to use? Why can't I just use joint compound? I can't even find the "plaster washers" it mentions either. Do I have to buy all of this stuff online or am I looking in the wrong places?
I have little kids running around the house so I need to get to this, and soon, not to mention the wife is having a fit.

Can you insert some studs? A lot of old houses had uneven stud spacing although 28" is a bit much.

I have repaired plaster with drywall products but I've never secured it to the lath - usually either used an existing studs or added framing.

I don't know much about plaster but we have a couple of plaster pros that are members. They usually check in at the plaster repair forum although they may respond here.

Don't take this too personally but plastering is an art and drywall is a craft (at least to me it is). Put in a few studs where you need to, remove the old wood lath and install drywall, tape and spackle.

Rockpro: I'm pretty thick skinned, don't take to much as "to personal". The thought of ripping out the wall did occur to me, I'm just terrified as to what else I might find when I got in there. Have hung my fair share of drywall, you're right it's so much easier and faster once the wall is ready to hang the stuff. Yanking out plaster and lathe is a huge task and I have no way of disposing of it once I do. That too was part of my dilemma.

The old home I bought a few months ago is plaster/lath... and the previous owner simply put up drywall over the old stuff in a couple of rooms...I don't know what he used to attach it - but it looks great and is solid as a rock. Only problem was the window/door trim that he did not remove/replace - and only faces the new walls by about 1/8th inch - not that it looks bad - just requires careful painting around the windows/doors....

This house was build so long ago (by someone who obviously didn't know how) that the lath and plaster only leave about a 1/4" edge on the window and door trim. I'm seriously comtemplating just drywalling over the whole thing and putting up new trim. The only problem will be the windows. It would make it so I had to rip down the wall when I get ready to replace those. Unless I just go to the edge like they did then just nail some new trim over top of the old. Even the base boards are this way. It's almost like they did a lath and plaster over either existing lath and plaster or drywall, which I know they didn't because I have knocked a few hole in it where the plaster was completely destroyed.
If anybody has any suggestions I'd welcome the input.

Some old houses were framed with rough-sawed lumber. A 2x4 was actually 4 inches wide, whereas a 2x4 from today's lumber yard is only 3 1/2 inches wide. Ripping out could get complicated unless you completely demolish a wall and redo completely. Good luck with your project.

Wirepuller:
Tell me about it, I checked on a different wall today. At first I thought the 2x4 was turned sideways, but I think your dead on, it's a 4x4. In another spot it looks like two 2x4's nailed together. I also found that some of them are spiked together in a patch kind of deal. I'm sure there is some name for it, but I'm a cabinet maker, not a carpenter. I think I may look into hiring this phase of the job done. I managed to score some of that new mold resistant 1/2" wallboard today too. Some 4'x4' sheets that had been damaged were being sold for $2 a sheet. I bought all they had, 9 sheets. It sells for $13 for a full 4x8 sheet. Last week I scored some green board for the bath room same deal. Worked out great for around the tub. I'm learning a lot.