diff --git a/lib/compass/sprite_importer.rb b/lib/compass/sprite_importer.rb
index e596e9a7..d46403d9 100644
--- a/lib/compass/sprite_importer.rb
+++ b/lib/compass/sprite_importer.rb
@@ -104,8 +104,9 @@ $#{name}-spacing: 0 !default;
 $#{name}-repeat: no-repeat !default;
 $#{name}-prefix: '' !default;
 $#{name}-clean-up: true !default;
+$#{name}-layout:vertical !default;
 
-#{skip_overrides ? "$#{name}-sprites: sprite-map(\"#{uri}\", $cleanup: $#{name}-clean-up);" : generate_overrides(uri, name) }
+#{skip_overrides ? "$#{name}-sprites: sprite-map(\"#{uri}\", $layout: $#{name}-layout, $cleanup: $#{name}-clean-up);" : generate_overrides(uri, name) }
 
 // All sprites should extend this class
 // The #{name}-sprite mixin will do so for you.
@@ -160,7 +161,7 @@ $#{name}-#{sprite_name}-repeat: $#{name}-repeat !default;
         SCSS
       end.join
 
-      content += "\n$#{name}-sprites: sprite-map(\"#{uri}\", \n$cleanup: $#{name}-clean-up,\n"
+      content += "\n$#{name}-sprites: sprite-map(\"#{uri}\", \n$layout: $#{name}-layout, \n$cleanup: $#{name}-clean-up,\n"
       content += sprites.map do |sprite_name| 
 %Q{  $#{sprite_name}-position: $#{name}-#{sprite_name}-position,
   $#{sprite_name}-spacing: $#{name}-#{sprite_name}-spacing,
diff --git a/test/integrations/sprites_test.rb b/test/integrations/sprites_test.rb
index 723dac7d..456b0063 100644
--- a/test/integrations/sprites_test.rb
+++ b/test/integrations/sprites_test.rb
@@ -603,5 +603,33 @@ class SpritesTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       }
     CSS
   end
+    
+  it "should calculate corret sprite demsions when givin spacing via issue#253" do
+    css = render <<-SCSS
+      $squares-layout:horizontal;
+      @import "squares/*.png";
+      .foo {
+        @include sprite-background-position($squares-sprites, "twenty-by-twenty");
+      }
+      .bar {
+        @include sprite-background-position($squares-sprites, "ten-by-ten");
+      }
+    SCSS
+    assert_equal [30, 20], image_size('squares-s*.png')
+    other_css = <<-CSS
+      .squares-sprite {
+        background: url('/squares-s161c60ad78.png') no-repeat;
+      }
 
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+      .foo {
+        background-position: -10px 0;
+      }
+
+      .bar {
+        background-position: 0 0;
+      }
+    CSS
+    assert_correct css.gsub("\n", '').gsub(' ', ''), other_css.gsub("\n", '').gsub(' ', '')
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/test/units/sprites/image_test.rb b/test/units/sprites/image_test.rb
index 6caef387..afcc0c7c 100644
--- a/test/units/sprites/image_test.rb
+++ b/test/units/sprites/image_test.rb
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ class SpritesImageTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     options.stubs(:get_var).with("#{sprite_name}-repeat").returns(::OpenStruct.new(:value => @repeat))
     options.stubs(:get_var).with("#{sprite_name}-spacing").returns(::OpenStruct.new(:value => @spacing))
     options.stubs(:get_var).with("#{sprite_name}-position").returns(::OpenStruct.new(:value => @position))
+    options.stubs(:get_var).with("layout").returns(::OpenStruct.new(:value => 'vertical'))
     options
   end
   
diff --git a/test/units/sprites/sprite_map_test.rb b/test/units/sprites/sprite_map_test.rb
index 8abb762e..9afa868a 100644
--- a/test/units/sprites/sprite_map_test.rb
+++ b/test/units/sprites/sprite_map_test.rb
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ class SpriteMapTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     config.images_path = @images_tmp_path
     Compass.add_configuration(config)
     Compass.configure_sass_plugin!
-    @options = {'cleanup' => Sass::Script::Bool.new(true)}
+    @options = {'cleanup' => Sass::Script::Bool.new(true), 'layout' => Sass::Script::String.new('vertical')}
     @base = sprite_map_test(@options)
   end
 
@@ -83,5 +83,37 @@ class SpriteMapTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     @base.generate
     assert !File.exists?(file), "Sprite file did not get removed"
   end
+
+  it "should have a vertical layout" do
+    assert_equal [0, 10, 20, 30], @base.images.map(&:top)
+    assert_equal [0, 0, 0, 0], @base.images.map(&:left)
+  end
+
+
+  # Horizontal tests
+  def horizontal
+    opts = @options.merge("layout" => Sass::Script::String.new('horizontal'))
+    sprite_map_test(opts)
+  end
+  
+  it "should have a horizontal layout" do
+    base = horizontal
+    assert_equal 10, base.height
+    assert_equal 40, base.width
+  end
+  
+  it "should layout images horizontaly" do
+    base = horizontal
+    assert_equal [0, 10, 20, 30], base.images.map(&:left)
+    assert_equal [0, 0, 0, 0], base.images.map(&:top)
+  end
+  
+  it "should generate a horrizontal sprite" do
+    base = horizontal
+    base.generate
+    assert File.exists?(base.filename)
+    FileUtils.rm base.filename
+  end
+  
   
 end
\ No newline at end of file