New concrete floor finishing--does it need sealer?

I hired 2 guys who had just done a stucco wall repair for me to repair some more stucco and fix a cracked concrete cement floor.

They put down metal lath and poured new cement over it.
They dyed the concrete red like I wanted. However, it’s not very smooth, and would definitely snag a mop and be difficult to keep clean.

Looks like they’re stucco, not concrete experts! How do you get a smooth, glossy concrete colored floor? What kind of finishing coat and curing is recommended?

I sure could use advice! This is making me sleepless.

Furnishedowner

They are going to sand the floor and attempt to smooth it.

Can I also use concrete sealer on some pillars that I had made out of river rock and concrete? This was to dress up some ugly metal rusty posts and make them look Craftsman. Now I need them shinier and waterproof.

Any tips on sealing concrete?

Furnishedowner

Tinted and decritive concrete floors. Counters and so forth are not typical concrete

to achieve the right results it starts with the proper material
if they had to much sand or stone ( wrong stone) in the mix or the mix was not strong enough the end result will not be good.

providing the right mix was used and the dye added to that mix the process is quite long for a floor
first the pour then it needs to be vibrated to remove air pockets

then it would be top screeded
it would need to set up for awhile and start to cure then when walkable > a power screed is used to smooth
( surface) the floor
the whole deal really depends on the proper mix and the proper power screed work to get a floor to be smooth like glass

seeing your claiming the floor is very rough I assume the final power screeding work was not done correctly.

If your floor is still (GREEN) meaning has not totaly cured you can still save it
But the floor will need to be totaly rubbed out either by power method or by hand

do not> I REPEAT! DO NOT seal your floor until it has fully cured!!!

The longer you give it to cure fully the better end result you will have

After it has cured you can then apply a concrete sealer ( for floors) over it> a few light coats are much better than one heavy coat for this type of sealer.

Floors and counters truely are a specialty

My two cents

ABS,

Thanks, those guys are OFF the job! What do you mean, “the floor needs to be totally rubbed out”?

Do you mean mechanically vibrated? Screed?

Furnishedowner