For decades, tap dancers have solved the “I want to practice at home” problem with two things:
A basic sheet of plywood, usually from Home Depot or Lowe’s
A purpose-built portable tap floor, like the ones available at PortableTapFloor.com
Both options work as tap dance boards at home.
Both give you a surface you can put on carpet, tile, or concrete so you can practice without destroying your real floors.
But here’s the truth most tap dancers learn the hard way:
Your floor affects how often you practice and how much you improve.
In this guide, I’m breaking down the real pros and cons of plywood versus quality tap boards. This is based on my experience as both a tap dancer and someone who has helped thousands of dancers pick the right surface for home practice.
And I’ve made all the mistakes I’m hoping to help you avoid.
Watch this quick video to see the difference between plywood and portable tap floors:
If you’re deciding what kind of home tap dance board to buy (or if you’ve been using plywood and wondering why something doesn’t feel right), this guide will help you make a smart choice.
Why Your Floor Matters More Than You Think
Most dancers think tap shoes matter most. Or choreography. Or drills.
Few realize that your practice surface affects your habits, your motivation, your sound quality, your technique, how long you can dance, and even how often you put on your tap shoes.
A good floor can make 10 minutes feel fun. A bad floor can make 10 minutes feel like a chore.
If your tap board is too loud, too soft, too thin, too slippery, too rough, too heavy, too ugly, or too hard to move, you simply won’t practice as much. Your motivation drops. Your excitement fades. Tap shoes stay in the closet.
But if your floor feels alive, inspiring, and comfortable, everything changes. You start dancing more often. You get better, faster. You hear your rhythms clearly. You enjoy the process. You look forward to tap time.
That’s why this comparison matters.
The Good Things About Plywood (The Honest Truth)
Let’s be clear. Plywood has been the “starter tap board” for decades for a reason.
1. It’s the Cheapest Option (By Far)
No contest.
A sheet of ¾ inch plywood (usually 4 feet by 8 feet) costs anywhere from $30 to $60 depending on where you live. If you ask Home Depot to cut it in half, you instantly get two 4 by 4 foot boards.
For a beginner who doesn’t know if they’ll stick with tap dancing, that price looks very attractive.
2. You Can Find It Everywhere
You can find plywood in any hardware store.
For many dancers, it’s the first and fastest way to create a tap-safe surface on carpet or tile.
3. It’s Very Easy to Get Started
Walk in. Buy a board. Put it on the floor. Tap.
No shipping. No waiting. No instructions needed.
4. It Feels Like a Rite of Passage
Many dancers (including me!) started on plywood.
It almost feels like a step everyone takes. The “beginner board.” The “do it yourself” version.
5. You Can Customize It (If You Know How)
You can add paint, stain, a clear coat, a rubber bottom, and more.
But most people don’t. Or they try and end up with a sticky, slippery, or noisy mess.
The Real Problems with Plywood (What Dancers Learn Later)
There are reasons plywood is the first option people try. And also the reason almost nobody sticks with it long term.
Here’s the honest breakdown.
1. Poor Sound Quality
This is the number one complaint.
Plywood makes flat, dull, muffled tap sounds. Instead of crisp, clear tones, you get a low-quality “thud.”
Why? Because plywood is soft and uneven. It isn’t built for making music. It doesn’t ring out like a drum.
As dancers get better, poor sound makes learning harder. You can’t hear the small differences in rhythms. You start tapping harder to try to “force” sound. You build tension and bad habits. Your technique suffers.
Most dancers feel this within a week or two, even if they can’t explain what’s wrong.
When I first started teaching tap online at eTapDance.com, I heard this complaint all the time from students. They’d film themselves practicing and couldn’t hear the difference between their shuffles and flaps. The sound was so muddy that they couldn’t tell if they were doing the steps right.
2. Zero Cushioning
Let me be direct: Plywood is brutal on your joints.
No cushion. No give. No bounce.
Dance for 20 minutes and your ankles, knees, hips, and back will feel it.
This was one of the biggest problems I had when I started. I was dancing on carpet with plywood on top, and within minutes I felt tired and sore.
When dancers switch to a real tap board, the difference is immediate. They can practice longer without discomfort. That means more practice, better stamina, better technique, and faster improvement.
3. Splinters (Yes, It Happens a Lot)
This is a real problem.
Even smooth plywood edges eventually start to fray, chip, peel, and splinter.
You can get splinters in your hands (when you move the board), your feet (if you dance barefoot nearby), your pet’s paws, or even stuck in your carpet.
I’ve personally pulled splinters out of my hand many times in my early tapping days. No dancer wants to take a break because of a splinter injury.
4. The Wrong Kind of Grip
Plywood is unpredictable.
Depending on whether it has a finish (or no finish at all), you might get too much grip that makes you stick, too much drag that messes up your shuffles, a “grabby” feel that makes slides impossible, or weird resistance that throws off your balance.
And when the grip is uneven, your technique becomes uneven. You’re practicing movements that don’t feel anything like they do in class or on a real studio floor.
5. Heavy and Hard to Store
People think plywood is “light.” Until they have to move it.
A 4 by 4 foot piece is awkward, clunky, hard to hold, hard to store, heavy for kids, and tough to manage in small apartments.
If you don’t have a garage or a big open space, plywood becomes a pain. And when something is a pain to deal with, you practice less.
6. It Doesn’t Inspire You to Dance
This part matters more than dancers want to admit.
Plywood looks like, well, plywood. It’s plain. It’s unfinished. It has no personality.
And if your practice space doesn’t excite you, you won’t practice.
How your space looks matters because it affects your motivation, your mood, your habits, and whether you stick with tap long term.
A beautiful, clean tap board makes you want to dance. Plywood rarely inspires anyone.
7. It Doesn’t Last Long
Plywood warps over time. It chips. It dents. The edges break down. It falls apart when it gets wet. It loses strength with heavy use.
It simply isn’t built for dance.
If you use it regularly, it becomes a project you constantly need to sand, seal, fix, or replace.
Why Dancers Upgrade to Portable Tap Floors
A quality portable tap board (like the ones at PortableTapFloor.com) is designed for dancers from the ground up.
While plywood gives you the cheapest way to “not ruin your home,” a real tap floor gives you the best way to actually enjoy practicing. (For more details on choosing the right portable tap floor, check out my complete guide to portable tap floors for serious tap dancers.)
Here’s what dancers notice right away.
1. Much Better Sound Quality
Tap boards made for dance have harder, thicker top surfaces. They have layers that help sound ring out. They sound the same across the whole board.
This gives you cleaner tones, sharper sounds, fuller ring, better control over loud and soft, and less noise coming through the floor to the room below.
This is huge for beginners. It helps them hear their technique clearly and fix mistakes faster.
When my online students at eTapDance.com upgrade their floors, they often send me videos saying “I can finally hear what you’re talking about!” The clarity makes such a difference in how fast they learn.
Ready to buy a portable tap floor? Check out my guide: 5 Things to Know Before Buying a Portable Tap Floor to make sure you choose the right one.
2. Built-In Cushioning
This is the game changer.
Quality tap boards have rubber or foam underneath the wood surface. They have flexible layers. They have padding that helps absorb shock.
This means less stress on your joints, more bounce, better stamina, more comfortable landings, healthier long-term practice, and longer practice sessions that feel good.
Most dancers feel the difference right away. Some tell me it feels like going from concrete to a gymnastics floor.
3. No Splinters, No Damage, No Sharp Edges
A professional tap board is sealed, finished, and safe.
This matters especially if you have kids, pets, move your board often, practice barefoot warmups, or store the board indoors.
No splinters. No rough edges. No wood coming apart.
4. Light and Easy to Move
Every quality board is designed to be light enough to carry, easy to move, easy to store, and easy to slide under a bed or behind a couch.
This solves the “I don’t feel like dragging out that huge thing” problem that plywood creates.
When practice is effortless, you practice more.
5. A Board That Makes You Want to Dance
A home tap space should feel like a mini studio. Your happy place.
A quality tap board has a nice finish, clean edges, a professional look, a “real dancer” feel, and a look that makes your space better.
This matters because your space affects your mood, and your mood affects whether you practice. Inspiring spaces create inspired dancers.
6. Built to Last for Years
Portable tap floors are built for shuffles, flaps, riffs, pullbacks, toe stands, turns, drills, and hours of daily practice.
No warping. No falling apart. No breaking down. No sanding needed.
Dancers use the same board for years.
Progress, Motivation and Tap Psychology (What Plywood Takes Away From You)
This is the part most people miss, but it’s the most important part of this whole article.
The floor you dance on shapes how you see yourself as a tap dancer.
When your board is uncomfortable, ugly, uninspiring, hard to use, or low quality, it affects how you feel about practice.
You start doing less of it. Not because you’re lazy, but because it’s just not fun.
Tap is supposed to be joyful. Tap is supposed to feel good. Tap is supposed to give you energy.
A plywood board makes tap feel like work. A quality board makes tap feel like play.
The Right Board Creates the Right Habit: “Let Me Get a Few Minutes In”
A dancer with a portable tap floor starts doing “quick sessions” more often. Five minutes between tasks. Ten minutes before work. A few minutes before class. Practice whenever inspiration hits.
Those quick practice sessions are where real progress happens.
You don’t get that with plywood because it feels like too much work to set up.
I see this all the time with my eTapDance.com students. The ones with quality floors tell me they practice almost every day. Not because they have more time, but because it’s so easy and fun to just pull out their board and dance for a bit.
Safety, Staying Healthy and Avoiding Injuries
Your knees and back will thank you.
Plywood on carpet absorbs almost nothing. Plywood on concrete is even worse.
Tap already has a lot of impact. Your floor should reduce that, not make it worse.
Better floors mean fewer injuries, less tiredness, healthier body position, smoother technique growth, and a longer dancing career.
I’ve seen dancers switch boards and call it “the best decision I made this year” simply because suddenly tap didn’t hurt anymore.
When Does Plywood Make Sense?
To be fair, plywood does have a place.
It’s perfect for dancers who are brand new, have very tight budgets, just want something temporary, aren’t sure if they’ll stick with tap, or only practice lightly once in a while.
If that’s you, plywood is a valid starting point.
But once you start dancing regularly, once you feel your technique getting better, once you realize you actually love tap, your board should grow with you.
When to Upgrade to a Portable Tap Floor
Here’s my rule: If you practice more than once a week, get a real tap board. Before you buy, read my 5 Things to Know Before Buying a Portable Tap Floor guide to make the right choice.
You’ll feel the difference right away. Clearer sound. Better technique. Less pain. More joy. More motivation. Faster progress.
Your future self will be glad you made the switch.
Most dancers tell me they wish they’d upgraded sooner.
Why I Built PortableTapFloor.com
Most people know me as “Terrence Taps,” but long before I taught online, performed, or created programs, I was just a new tap dancer trying to practice in a small apartment.
I used plywood, kitchen tile, concrete, random pieces of wood. Anything that wouldn’t destroy my landlord’s property.
Nothing ever felt right. Nothing gave me the “studio sound.” Nothing made me excited to practice. Nothing helped me stay consistent.
Years later, when I started teaching tap online, I realized most dancers had the exact same problem.
So I designed boards that solved all the issues I’d dealt with: great sound, cushioned feel, beautiful finish, light weight, long-lasting strength, easy storage, the right amount of grip, and perfect tone.
You can see them here: PortableTapFloor.com
And whether you pick one of mine or another company’s, my advice stays the same:
Get the floor that makes you want to dance. Everything else follows from that.
Final Answer: Plywood vs. Tap Dance Boards at Home
Here’s the honest summary:
Cost: Plywood wins as the cheapest option. Quality tap boards cost more up front.
Sound: Plywood makes flat, dull, uneven sounds. Quality tap boards make crisp, full, ringing sounds.
Cushioning: Plywood has none. Quality tap boards have built-in comfort.
How Long It Lasts: Plywood breaks down quickly. Quality tap boards last for years.
Safety: Plywood can give you splinters and has rough edges. Quality tap boards are smooth and safe.
How It Looks: Plywood looks plain and boring. Quality tap boards look motivating and beautiful.
Easy to Move: Plywood is heavy and awkward. Quality tap boards are light and easy to move.
Motivation: Plywood gives low motivation. Quality tap boards create high motivation.
How Often You Practice: With plywood, you practice less. With quality tap boards, you practice more often.
Long-Term Value: Plywood is a poor value over time. Quality tap boards give excellent long-term value.
If you want the cheapest way to get started, go with plywood. If you want the best way to fall in love with tap and stick with it, get a real tap dance board.
If You’re Ready to Upgrade, Here’s Where to Go Next
Check out the full collection at PortableTapFloor.com
You’ll find boards for beginners, adults coming back to tap, intermediate and advanced dancers, small apartments, large practice spaces, kids, and pros.
And if you want to pair your new floor with quality instruction, check out my online tap classes at eTapDance.com. I’ve designed programs that work perfectly for home practice, whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve your technique.
If you ever want personal help picking the perfect board for your situation, I’m happy to help.
The right floor changes everything. Your tap journey deserves a surface that makes you excited to dance.