After reading the title of today’s post you may have thought – I will never need to build a dance floor. I thought the same thing. But you might and when and if you do this post on How to Build a Dance Floor will come in handy. Be sure and Pin it so you know where to find it when you need it.
I shared with you in a previous Wedding Carnival post the story of our dance floor. When we decided to book a live band for the Wedding Carnival I thought we needed a dance floor. My husband did not. We have a large backyard and plenty of grass and he thought dancing on the grass would be just fine. I did not.
I am not easily dissuaded or discouraged.
I got on line and immediately started pricing dance floors from rental companies. They are not cheap, between $700-800 for the size we needed. It wasn’t in the budget so I decided I needed to get creative.
To make a somewhat long, 5 month long story, short, I had a dance floor and then I didn’t have a dance floor, I had a dance floor and then I didn’t. In fact I thought I had a dance floor until the Sunday before the Wedding Carnival. It fell through – five days before the event.
Remember I am not easily discouraged so I decided we were going to build a dance floor. Or rather my daughter Cali and her friend Hannah were going to build me a dance floor (with some help from dad of course.)
By this time I had totally broken Jim down and he agreed so we headed to Home Depot on Monday night (the Wedding Carnival was Friday).
How to Build a Dance Floor
We loaded up the cart with wood and nails.
Supplies Needed for a 12×16 Dance Floor
6 sheets of 1/2″ plywood
30 eight foot long 2 x 3’s – cut 18 of them into two 45″ pieces (you will have pieces leftover) This will leave 12 of the boards 8 ‘ long. They cut them for free for you at Home Depot.
Nails and hammer
Floor Paint and supplies for painting
Painters Tape
6 Mending plates to join the pieces together
The dance floor measured 12 x 16 and was created out of 6 sections that were 4 x 8. The size of a sheet of plywood.
The whole neighborhood got involved or enjoyed watching the process taking place out in front of our house.
The above photo is about how involved Tessa got – she held a hammer for a photo but she was working full time so we need to cut her some slack.
From the 2 x 3’s they created 6 frames that measured 4 x 8.
They then added four support pieces to each frame.
The next step was nailing a sheet of plywood to the top of each frame and nailing it down along the edges and across the support pieces.
The moms got involved in this step of the process. Had to bring in the big muscles!
The next step was the painting process. I decided that I wanted the floor to be checker board to go along with the carnival theme so I purchased black and white floor paint. We primed the boards first and then added a coat of white paint to each section.
After it was dry, yes I sat in a chair and watched it dry! I like watching paint dry.
The girls used blue painters tape to tape off the squares. The squares measured 24″ x 24″ so each 4 x 8 section had 2 x 4 squares.
Using small foam rollers the girls rolled the black paint into the taped off squares.
We waited for the paint to dry, removed the tape and we had a dance floor!!
We then numbered the pieces so that we knew how to put it back together once we moved it into the backyard. Can I tell you something? It was perfect and it was a wonderful addition to our carnival and YES, we needed a dance floor. Even my husband admits that now. It added such a fun element to the carnival and really got people dancing.
The mending pieces were hammered into to hold the pieces together.
Total Cost of Dance Floor (including paint but not including labor) Approx. $300.00.
Who wouldn’t want to dance on a black and white checkerboard dance floor!!!
For more Wedding Carnival posts check out these:
Carnival Pictorial can be found here
The Wedding Carnival}The Food Part One
The Wedding Carnival}The Food Part Two
The Wedding Carnival}Decorations
The Wedding Carnival}Carnival Games
The Wedding Carnival}Music, Dancing and a Flash Mob
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Hi Leigh Anne,
My partner and i love the dance floor. we’re going to build one for our wedding August 11. My only question is how did you install the mending plates? I did not see any pictures showing this step. Can you let me know how you’ve done this?
Thank you Sean 🙂
Sean, You just hammer them into the wood. they have little metal teeth on them.
Hello Leigh Anne, thank you so much for sharing. My friend and I just built this floor last weekend, we will be using it this weekend in Clinton, MD. We are at the mending plates stage and setting it in place. You said you only put the plates around the outside and the middle stayed in place? We also used wood screws instead of nails, too old for all thst hammering, lol. Just the 2 of us finshed the floor. My email is [email protected]
Yes, you only need the mending plates around the outside and it stays in place just great. Happy dancing!
I am thinking of doingthis – but the last bit escaped me : “the mending pieces were hammered in to hold it together?” Did you just hammer them together at an angle from the outside edge? toenail them? Inquiring minds etc 🙂
How did you secure the sections together?
If I remember right we got them from Oriental Trading.
Absolutely so simply great! I’m a contractor and was going to rent one for our barn wedding. Now I’ll build it so we can keep it for all our barn parties. Thanks
Wwooowww!!!
I’m super impressed and inspired by your awesome family!
Thank you SO MUCH! for sharing your story with pictures. I just love it!!
How much did the supplies at Home Depot cost? I want to make one but we’re on a serious budget.
Jeannie, That information is in the post – about $300.00
Hi, I ran into this because I’m planning a black & white party decor. Your dance floor is amazing!!! I wish I had the time to do something like this.
I read the whole post and a bit confused where the pieces which are now cut in half at a 45 degree angle go. Can you elaborate, please?
Susan, They are cut in 45″ lengths not a 45 degree.
You never said or showed how you connected the sections.
In the post I said I used the mending plates to hold the pieces together. They are just hammered into the sides of the floor where the pieces come together to hold them together.
What a really fun idea! I have a feeling that once you build it, your friends and neighbors will be asking to borrow it. Who wouldn’t love a dance floor at any outdoor event? Great tutorial!
Catherine, Thanks. The floor has been fun to have and has made many appearances at neighborhood events.
how much did this end up costing you?
Brooke, That info is in the post. The approximate cost was $300.00
Can I ask how u joined the sections together? What did you use because presumably you took it apart afterwards for easy storage in pieces?
Fern, I explain what I used to join the sections together in the post – we used mending plates.
Sorry. I reread and found the answer in the post
What was the final cost on everything?
We want a little bigger floor, sounds like it would be 20×24. Do you have plans for that? Or I could do some calculations also. Please send plans.
Our event is also in back yard and will need some leveling, did you have to level the floor?
Thanks for your feedback.
Lori
Lori, I do not have plans for a bigger floor. The floor may need leveling if the area you are placing it in is not level. You can use shims to level it.
Do you happen to recall a ruff estimate on suplys?
How many people did you have at the wedding? Or should I ask how many people could the dance floor accommodate to get their grove on? 🙂
Isabelle, A dozen or so at a time.
I would assume that the sections had to be fastened together somehow to avoid tripping on the edges while dancing?? Or were they just placed together on the grass?
The sections are held together with mending plates which I mention in the post.
How are the mending plates used?
They hold the sections together. They are hammered into the wood
Awesome, I’m a wedding/event planner and would love to have a dance floor for outdoor wedding, can you send me supply list and instructions
All the info is in the blog post.
We built the dance floor with no problem but when we put the panels together we discovered that some of the panels were uneven. Have you experienced that problem? If so, how do you go about getting all the panels level with one another? Also, when you rent your floor out, is there a delivery & setup charge included in your $200 fee?
If the place you are putting the dance floor is not level you will need to use some shims to get it level – it’s a matter of trial and error. The fee did not include delivery and set up.
Question for ya…I showed this to my hubby and told him that it requires 30 2×3’s, but he told me that there is no such thing as 2×3’s? How did you obtain those? The Home Depot website does not offer 2×3’s either.
I guess technically they are 2 x 4 but measure more like 2 x 3
Actually, I don’t “need” a dance floor either, no weddings or carnivals coming up. But I keep remembering the little dance floor squares that have been installed when I’ve been at groups that were hosting a dance, and I keep remembering the smaller 2′ square or maybe 3′ square “recovery boards” used in between stations at the Curves Fitness for Women, and I keep wishing for something similar to have at home to put on top of the carpeted floor….soooo that I can do exercise videos at home on my carpeted floor. You’d think with commas and periods and other punctuation marks being essentially free, that I would actually use more of them to make the above “paragraph” a series of shorter sentences? But in any case, this was an awesome idea! Curious if the paint wore off after one day of dancing? or maybe I should just put some layers of clear polyurethane on the top to make it more wear-resistant?
How did you get the surface to be so smooth? Was it the regular plywood covered with paint ?
There are different grades of plywood and we bought a smoother one and then painted it.
What a fun idea! Love it and I might need to make one. Just wanted to let you now the metal piece you are describing is called a nail plate.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Halex-1-1-2-in-x-5-in-12-Gauge-Zinc-Plated-Steel-Nail-Plates-62850/100165368?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-202241088-_-100165368-_-N
They are used on studs behind drywall to protect you from accidentally drilling into plumbing and electrical. You could also just use a flat stage bracket like this
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Superstrut-3-1-2-in-2-Hole-Flat-Straight-Bracket-ZAB206EG-10/202077368
Hope this helps! ????
Hi, this isn’t about the dance floor but your backyard lighting. I see in your picture a pole. Do you Remeber how you light up the floor? And how long the string lights were ?
This might be an odd question but my fiancé is concerned that it will be loud with everyone stomping around/dancing. Was this a problem you noticed?
not at all
You have inspired me to build my approx 20X20 dance floor for my engement party in Houston TX.
I am making a few alterations to match our rustic theme, instead of using plywood sheets for the top, I am using 1X2 (8ft) pieces to give that distinct look, which than I will be staining with a dark roast stain.
Thanks for the inspiration
Chunky Mirchandani
[email protected]
Plywood is 48″ wide, so cutting the supports at 45″ plus two 2″ side pieces would be 49″ total. I don’t see any overlap though. Did you mean 44″ or am I missing something?
Seems like the paint held up pretty well since you are renting your dance floor out. We are making a dance floor for my daughter that is a tapper. Do you think heels damage or will damage the floor over time?
We just recently repainted it after it being used a dozen times or so. There definitely are some scratches and dings in the floor but a fresh coat of paint did wonders.
Love this dance floor!!! We are having an outdoor wedding in Tillamook 08/30/14 is it available that weekend?? 🙂
It is available that weekend.
Perfect!!!! I will send you a email 🙂
This is exactly what I have been looking for! I’m getting married soon and the cost to rent a dance floor is outrageous! I’m going to have about 120-150 people at my wedding, how much larger do you think it would need to be to fit everyone?
Kayla, We had about 150 people at our wedding and not everyone dances at the same time so the floor was plenty big.
Is your floor available September 6, 2014?
It is available that weekend. It rents for $200.00 an event.
I think this is amazing I may be getting married soon and in the Portland area how much are you charging for renting your dance floor?
It rents for $200.00 an event
Leigh Anne
What a great DIY! Not only did you do a fantastic job of putting building a dance floor, but then you also got to enjoy the fruit of your labor as well! Who said you can’t have your cake AND eat it too! Great post, thanks for an excellent project idea!
I’m sorry! I must have missed the $300.00!
No worries!
I saw you wrote how much dance floors in your area were priced at but I didn’t see any inclusions of the overall total cost of making this yourself. Any way you can share that with us?
Dance floors in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area are quite expensive as well. So I may just have to make one myself!
Thanks!
Jen, It actually does say at the end of the post the cost was $300.00
when you pull apart the sections, do the mending plates leave damage to the sides?
The mending plates do leave some small holes in the wood but we have put the floor together a dozen times or so and it is still fine.
That is incredible! I see dance floors for rental on places like party and event rentals, but they are much more expensive. If people have the time to make it yourself like you did, that is really impressive and cheap! Wish we could rent yours but we’re not from the area.
This is so great!!! We’re building one tomorrow for our staff party Saturday night.
You’re awesome!!!
Aloha,
Marlina
Hi Leigh Anne!
LOVE this post! I am a private wedding planner and trying to budget $1,000 (Pittsburgh, PA) for a dance floor is not quite going to happen. Like you, I don’t take no for an answer! This is exactly what I’m looking for, but I have a question: how did you attach each section so that they didn’t slide apart?
🙂
Ali
We used mending plates that can be purchased at Home Depot to hold the pieces together.
My husband built ours this weekend in a little over 3.5 hours, and that time includes the first two coats of white paint. Your instructions were very clear, and this project was really very easy. Thank you so much for the tips!
Do you still have the dance floor, and would you seriously consider renting because I would love to rent yours as opposed to some of the other places.
Yes, we still have it and we do rent it.
Hi Leigh Anne! We just might be building ourselves a dance floor for our outdoor wedding coming up in February, and my only concern that I’ve been worrying about in my head is people tripping (old, uncoordinated, tipsy, who knows). The floor ends up elevated slightly, correct? How did that work out for you?
Thanks for the great tutorial!!
The floor is about 3 inches above the ground – we didn’t have any problems with people tripping on it at all. Because ours was painted checkboard it is hard to miss and there was just a small step up.
Hi there: I enjoyed reading your blog on how to make a dance floor….I have always wanted to build one, I see the efficiency and practicality of having one. We have our annual Halloween Party coming up soon, and sooo want to convince my boyfriend in building one. Thanks for posting!
Just discovered this post and laughed my little head off – what a great thing to do, thank you.
How did you lock the pieces together so they didn’t float apart?
We used mending plates to hold the pieces together.
Hiya crafty peeps!… We are having a cultural music festival on the 27th of this month and luv the fact that you took the initiative and I wanna rent it!!!… Please contact me ASAP! We are in nail biting mode!! Thanks! Peggy Lee
Sorry but the dance floor is rented that weekend.
I am extremely interested in renting your dance floor, how can I contact you further to see if it’s available for the date we would need it for?
You can email me at [email protected] for more info.
Leigh Anne! You have inspired me! I looked into renting a dance floor vs. the cost of YOUR’s and it’s 1/2 the cost!
With 2 sons in the future getting hitched…and having 2 more parties…it just doesn’t make sense NOT to build one for my daughter’s celebration at the end of September!
Do you have an email address that I could write you with any questions…other than those posted?
I guess I am concerned too, about the stability on the yard…mine is NOT too level…could shim it up, I guess. Also, how many people (max) did you have dancing at the same time?
just curious.
again, you have INSPIRED me! and I LOVE THE CHECKER BOARD! we are having a pig roast, so it’ll be PERFECT!
-marti
Marti – You can email me at [email protected] with more questions. Our laugh is fairly flat but not perfectly flat. We did not have any problems with getting it level on the grass. We used mending plates to hold it together. I really don’t know how many people max we had on it but it was always big enough.
Have fun!!
This is soooo helpful. I’d really like to know how the grass handled the floor. My future sis-in-law re-sodded her lawn, and I’d hate to have to buy her new sod after we take the floor up. yikes! The sod will have had the whole summer to settle, as our backyard wedding is in october. thank you!
No damage to the grass at all!
Thank you sooooo much for posting this! I am going to do this for my wedding as I want to have a back yard bbq for the reception instead of renting a stuffy hall
Hello,
I just love this dance floor. My fiance and soon to be father in-law plan to make this for our Aug 3 wedding this summer! What paint did you use to paint. I noticed it said floor paint… could you go more in depth as to what brand etc…
Thank you so much!
I bought the paint at Home Depot and it was just called floor paint. I no longer have the cans so don’t know the specific brand name – sorry.
I am looking at building a dance floor for my wedding as well. I just wanted to make sure– the directions say to purchase sheets of 1/2″ plywood but in the pictures it looks like it is 3/4″ ply. Obviously I’d rather use the 1/2″ because that is significantly cheaper but I was concerned about it bowing under the weight of many people dancing. Was that an issue at all if you did indeed use the 1/2″??
We used 1/2 inch plywood and with the cross braces we didn’t have any problem with it bowing at all.
Hi,
Your dance floor looks gorgeous!! I was wondering if you are still hiring it out? We are looking for one to hire in April and yours looks perfect 🙂 Thanks for sharing your stories.
Clare
Clare, if you are in the Portland, Oregon are we do rent it out.
We are in the Portland area and would be interested in renting it in August. Please let us know if its available!
Omg! This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much for sharing. Just one quick question. It was heavy enough that on grass it didn’t move around? I’m planning my wedding and the dance floor would be on grass.
We also had it on grass. we used some metal claw like plates (don’t know what they are called) that joined the pieces of the floor together. You just hammer them in and they have pokey metal things that go into the wood and hold the pieces of the floor together. They are about 3 x 4 inches in size and we got them at Home Depot – sorry I don’t know what they are called. The floor stayed right where it was suppose to be.
How much do u hire it out for? Do u hire it to geelong? Can u put it onto concrete??
This would also be great to have friends over and play a live chess or checkers game. That would be loads of fun.
How does the dance floor stay together
I need to add this info into the post – we used metal plates that were about 2 x 3 inches that had little metal claws sticking out of the back that we placed over the seam of where the two sections came togethered and hammered in. We got them at Home Depot – can’t remember what they are called.
I am considering building a dance floor as well for our wedding next year (sept. 2013), but many of our guests just so happen to be coming from the Portland area… and could potentially bring it along!
Are you interested in selling your dance floor, or renting it? I’m not sure the white and black would match our wedding, which is why I ask- as we would maybe need to change it.
Look forward to hearing from you!
We do rent the dance floor out. Where are you located? I would not want it painted though.
Love it!!! you never know!!
I have questions! 🙂 Did you attach the sections to each other in any way? How did you manage to keep it all level once it was down? Did they ever tend to separate as people danced? Just wondering! I should also say, the wedding seems like it was just lovely and a lot of great fun!! Congratulations to the happy couple and your family!
Nancy, Those are all good questions because I had them too. The sections were attached with some metal plates that were about 2 x 3 inches that had little metal claws sticking out of the back that we placed over the seam of two of the sections and hammered in. We got them at Home Depot – can’t remember what they are called.
Our lawn is fairly level so the floor laid nice and flat and the sections didn’t separate at all or come apart as people danced on it. I was worried about it being level but I think it just settled into the grass so that it was nice and flat. We thought we might have to use some shims to get it level but we didn’t have to.
How far apart are the support beams?
Each measures 4 x 8 and there are 4 cross beams spaced evenly in the space. The dance floor is in storage and I can’t access it to measure exactly.
This is going to sound crazy, and i probably am, but by chance do you rent out your creations? If not, you should. And if by chance you are near the SF Bay area, let me know because I would LOVE to rent your dance floor for a Farm shindig we are having to raise money for a non-profit (that will help employ disabled and “abled” , whatever that means haha)
Pauline, sorry I’m in the Portland Oregon area.
This looks great, I’ve been looking for a DIY dance floor for my daughter’s graduation party. Were the metal plates attached to the bottom of the dance floor? How many metal plates do I need to purchase?
The metal plates were put on the “seams” where the sections of the dance floor comes together on the sides. There were 6 pieces to the floor and 6 seams or places where they pieces came together so we had 6 metal plates. So the plates were visible on the sides – they were not underneath the floor. They were put on after the floor was put into place.
If you look at the bottom of the first picture with them dancing, with the 2 guys, you can slightly see where the metal piece was, it is only JUST in the picture…
Thanks for sharing your awesome dance floor with us! I have the same questions about how you attached the metal plates to keep the pieces together. I think it would be super helpful if you posted a pictures of the bottom of the dance floor. That way we could all get an idea about how to do it ourselves and not bother you with all of the same questions over and over. Thanks again for sharing.
Laura, The metal plates are just hammered into the wood. The next time we have the dance floor out I will take a photo of the metal plates. They just have little metal claws in them that go right into the wood.
How do you get the top surface smooth if it’s plywood?
We bought a higher grade of plywood that was smooth.
Thank you so much for sharing this and all of the wedding carnival projects/awesome creations with us, I have really enjoyed them! You are so creative, kind, a wonderful cook, mother and wife. Please keep sharing and blogging. I receive your blog thru my email and I really enjoy it.
Just like the carnival booths, I will be renting my dance floor from you should the need ever arise LOL! Amazing and FUN! Thankfully you live close enough to allow me to do this.
Awesome. Don’t anticipate needing a dance floor any time soon…. but it’s good to know! Are you going to have Jim post about how to make the carnival booths? I think he should. They looked great- and I could see that coming in very handy for me.