Patching and Plastering - Stymied by Stucco

Holy 1982 - My basement is pure stucco, all walls, posts and ceilings, even inside of some of the closets, are dust grabbing stucco.

Aside from ripping it out, is there anything I can do with it? Someone I know suggested sanding it down and said this will leave a "textured" wall. I just don`t know if it`s true. I figured I would try it first in a closet but thought I would check here first.

Any suggestions at all would be appreciated. Thanks!

Is it real stucco or just a very rough coarse drywall compound/plaster textured finish?

I think I have seen this question before, and the recommendation was to scrape it with a broadknife to knock the worst off, then skim coat it with compond for a smoother finish. Sanding will create a ton of dust, but might work. How much work are you willing to put in? The materials wouldn't cost that much, but there would be a good amount of labor involved.

Pro's will be around soon...

Ya, we need to know just what you have. Stucco is a masonary product applied over masonary or wire lath. Are the walls painted? Joint compound is a lot softer and is normally applied to drywall. Scraping and filling in would be the fix but we need to know what you have.