How can I remove or modify stucco on interior (gypboard) walls?

We have some remodeling to do in our decorated-in-the-late-70s family room. One long wall is completely covered in stucco, and severely nicotine-stained. (Yuck.) An idea I have is to knock down some of the texture of the stucco possibly by wetting it and scraping it with a scraper, and then sanding. Then we will have to cover it with Kilz and paint. Has anyone out there ever successfully (or unsuccessfully, for that matter) done anything like this? I'm sure it will be a dusty mess, but will it work? My goal is to have maybe slightly textured walls, but not with that stucco look. The only other option is re-drywalling and that would be a big project.|||We did an entire room with an electric palm sander. It worked but not sure I would do it again. If you are going to go with a smoother texture, you wouldn't have to get it completely smooth however so that would make it a lot easier. I personally would skip the water idea. Just be sure and wear resperators or dust masks at least. That stuff is not good for your lungs.|||from exp. if you only want to cover the nicotine invest in a gallon of stain killer KILLZ then repaint if you dont like the stucco texturethen just hang rock {drywall} over it much cleaner,less expensive and simpler

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|||I have a condo that formerly had 900 square feet of stucco ceilings. It was the same, nicotine stained and it actually had been "pulled" up to 1 inch in places so it looked like 1 inch stalactites. I searched for 2 years and asked many builders, drywallers and painters before I came up with a solution myself.





The way I got mine off is by using a 2 inch wide very very heavy WOOD CHISEL about 2 foot long. I found one that weights about 12 lbs but has a very sharp point. It cut it off like butter.





I did it dry and it was very dusty. So get a good shop vacuum before you start and be sure to cover important stuff like TVs and electronics.





Afterward, you will probably have to skim coat some of the rough spots (I tore the paper in places) with drywall compound and then prime with drywall primer before painting.





I now have perfectly smooth ceilings.





I assume this would work for "popcorn" ceilings also.





Good luck.|||a scrapper is probably a worse way to aproach. scrub your walls w/ tsp unless you don't like the finish. sand w/120 grit and have a vacum/wet towels handy. lightly re-coat w/ hot mud, prime ,paint, and walah|||Either way it's going to be a big project.I would redrywall myself.


But definetly wear protective masks,and if you have children make sure they are gone for this,there lungs are very sensitive.|||It would be easier, faster and have a much better finish to remove and replace with new drywall.|||hopefully your not actually dealing with real "stucco" (which is normally used on the outside of houses) but instead what they call drywall texture. it can be quite easily sanded off with a vibrating or orbital type sander yes as noted it makes lots of dust but is not anywhere near as hard as removing and replacing the drywall