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This tutorial will show you how to build a dance floor using 2 x 2’s and sheets of plywood. So easy and less expensive than renting one.
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 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).
Dance Floor Supplies
- 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
How Big is the Dance Floor?
The dance floor measured 12 x 16 and was created out of 6 sections that were 4 x 8 which is the size of a sheet of plywood.
How to Build A Dance Floor
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.
- Create 6 frames from the 2 x 3’s that measure 4′ x 8′.
- Add four support pieces to each frame
- Nail a sheet of plywood to the top of each frame. Nail 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!
How to Paint a Dance Floor
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.
Yes, I sat in a chair and watched it dry! I like watching paint dry.
After it was 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!
Finally, we numbered the pieces so that we knew how to put it back together once we moved it into the backyard.
The mending pieces were hammered into to hold the pieces together.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Dance Floor
Total Cost of Dance Floor (including paint but not including labor) Approx. $300.00.
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.
Who wouldn’t want to dance on a black and white checkerboard dance floor!!!
Breanne Johnson says
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!
Leigh Anne says
No damage to the grass at all!
Kelly says
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
Ashley says
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!
Leigh Anne says
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.
Jesse says
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″??
Leigh Anne says
We used 1/2 inch plywood and with the cross braces we didn’t have any problem with it bowing at all.
clare says
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
Leigh Anne says
Clare, if you are in the Portland, Oregon are we do rent it out.
Jennifer says
We are in the Portland area and would be interested in renting it in August. Please let us know if its available!