diff --git a/lib/sinatra/base.rb b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
index f28e003a..17cf4c0c 100644
--- a/lib/sinatra/base.rb
+++ b/lib/sinatra/base.rb
@@ -366,6 +366,7 @@ module Sinatra
       result    = file.serving env
       result[1].each { |k,v| headers[k] ||= v }
       headers['Content-Length'] = result[1]['Content-Length']
+      opts[:status] = opts[:status].to_i if opts[:status].is_a?(String)
       halt opts[:status] || result[0], result[2]
     rescue Errno::ENOENT
       not_found
diff --git a/test/helpers_test.rb b/test/helpers_test.rb
index 2fd92213..22abda33 100644
--- a/test/helpers_test.rb
+++ b/test/helpers_test.rb
@@ -905,6 +905,17 @@ class HelpersTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
       get '/'
       assert_equal 'image/gif', response['Content-Type']
     end
+
+    it 'can have :status option as a string' do
+      path = @file
+      mock_app do
+        post '/' do
+          send_file path, :status => '422'
+        end
+      end
+      post '/'
+      assert_equal response.status, 422
+    end
   end
 
   describe 'cache_control' do