A worked planning guide
How to Plan a Herringbone Paver Patio
Compare 45° and 90° herringbone on the same 16 × 20 ft patio using real layouts, cut counts, geometric waste and separate purchase allowances.
How the angle changes the edge cuts
On this 16 × 20 ft rectangle, 45° Herringbone uses 100 more cut source pavers than 90° Herringbone. With the same 10% spare allowance, the purchase difference is 35 pavers. The patio area and paver size have not changed.
This is a result for this specific boundary and pattern origin, not a rule that every diagonal patio needs the same extra percentage.
Hold these inputs constant
Both drawings use a 16 × 20 ft rectangular patio, 4 × 8 in pavers, a ⅛ in joint, and a 10% spare allowance. Only the pattern orientation changes. The model anchors the pattern at the patio origin, clips each source paver to the boundary and counts every touched paver once.
| Pattern | Whole | Cut | Layout sources | Geometric waste | Discarded face area | Buy with 10% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90° Herringbone | 1308 | 105 | 1413 | 4.1% | 13.0 sq ft | 1555 |
| 45° Herringbone | 1240 | 205 | 1445 | 6.3% | 20.3 sq ft | 1590 |
Inspect the two real layouts
Amber marks cut pavers. A cut source is still one purchase unit even if only a small part is installed. Each drawing contains the pieces generated from the stated inputs.
90° Herringbone
105 cut pavers · 4.1% geometric waste · 1,555 to buy with 10% spare stock.
Use this example → 90° Herringbone45° Herringbone
205 cut pavers · 6.3% geometric waste · 1,590 to buy with 10% spare stock.
Use this example → 45° HerringboneTurn the comparison into a planning decision
- Enter your actual boundary and product dimensions. A small change in width or joint spacing can change which pavers meet an edge. This worked example uses a rectangular boundary; an L-shape has an extra internal corner.
- Review the cut pieces before comparing purchase totals. Cut count identifies source pavers needing trimming. It does not predict saw time, cut difficulty or labor cost.
- Choose spare stock separately. The geometry already counts source pavers used at the edge. The spare allowance is for additional stock; it is not the percentage of face area discarded by cutting.
- Open either example and change one input at a time. The buttons keep the dimensions, paver, joint, pattern and allowance. Changing the view in the planner keeps the project.
Assumptions and limits
Herringbone here uses a supported 2:1 rectangular paver. Each source paver is counted once; offcuts are not matched to other edge cuts. The model does not move the pattern origin to minimize waste, add a separate border product, draw curves, or model uneven site edges.
Geometric waste equals discarded paver face area divided by the original face area of all layout source pavers. It excludes joint gaps and the separate spare allowance. The purchase count is rounded up after applying 10% to the layout source count. Percentages and areas displayed here are rounded.
The saved project also retains the planner’s 4 in base and 1 in bedding inputs, but this comparison does not establish a suitable base depth or an installation method for your site.