alternative to parge walls

Are you in a cold climate area? Because...

.. a lot of the reason dirt is piled up against houses on the walkout side of a walkout basement is because the foundation footers are absent or insufficiently deep. It's cheeep frost-protection.

Might not apply to you, of course (even if the climate is cold), just something to consider if it might.

Banty

Parging and strucco are basically the same thing. They just lay stucco up in 2 or 3 coats. The top coat can be a different mix with color in it, Stucco mix may also have some other acrylic bonding agent but it is basically type S mortar. I have seen old timers "parge" using nothing but portland and sand.

Have you ever seen anyone use polymer modified cement that is sprayed on with a hopper gun?

No but I suppose you could try it., I just doubt it will work and the amount you need will be cumbersome in something that small. Why not just trowel it on. Clean the wall with a pressure cleaner and paint some link on it to enhance the bond. Start at the top and work down, trowelling it off your hawk onto the wall. The stuff that falls will land back on the hawk.

It will be very slow if you are building much of layer. We often use a texture gun for a final finish, gives a bit of an orange peel look.

Look up Thoroseal, read the application portion of this page:

Thanks