What an anchor and fastener pull-test report should include
The test is the quick part. The report is where the work piles up: retyping field notes, rebuilding a spreadsheet for each job, and answering the engineer's questions about the numbers that did not make it onto the page. This is a checklist of what the report should carry so it answers those questions the first time.
Two kinds of test, two kinds of report
A proof test loads each anchor to a required load, holds it, and records whether it met the limits. The report is a list of PASS or FAIL rows and a summary.
An ultimate (to-failure) test loads anchors until they fail. The report is a statistics exercise: how many tests, the mean, the spread, the lowest result, and a characteristic value the design can rely on.
Keep them on separate sheets so a proof-test summary never gets mixed with failure loads.
The job header
A complete header saves a round of questions. Record:
- Project, site and client
- Tester and witness
- Test equipment and its serial number, and the calibration due date
- Base material, anchor type and embedment
- The specification the test is run to
Fill every one, even when it seems obvious on site.
Per-anchor results for a proof test
For each anchor: its location or ID, the applied load, the hold time, the measured displacement and the failure mode, if any. State the required proof load, hold time and displacement limit once at the top, then mark each row against all of them. An anchor that held the load but moved past the displacement limit is a FAIL, and the sheet should say so without anyone doing arithmetic in their head.
The summary: count tested, passed, failed, pass rate, minimum and mean load, maximum displacement and an overall result, with signature lines for the tester and witness.
Statistics for an ultimate-load test
Report n, mean, sample standard deviation, coefficient of variation, minimum and maximum. The characteristic value is usually mean - k x s, where k depends on the number of tests and comes from the governing standard. Put k in an input cell with its source next to it rather than burying it in a formula. Add the ratio of the minimum result to the design load.
Calibration
A result is only as good as the gauge. Keep a calibration log with one row per instrument and its due date, and flag anything overdue before the job, not after. The relevant documents: ASTM E4 (Standard Practices for Force Verification of Testing Machines), ISO 7500-1 (calibration and verification of static uniaxial testing machines) and ISO 376 (calibration of force-proving instruments).
Which standard?
Name the governing document in the header. Some that apply to anchors and fasteners, by title: ASTM E488/E488M (Strength of Anchors in Concrete Elements), ASTM E1512 (Bond Performance of Bonded Anchors), ACI 355.2 and ACI 355.4 (qualification of post-installed mechanical and adhesive anchors in concrete), ICC-ES AC193 and ICC-ES AC308 (acceptance criteria for mechanical and post-installed adhesive anchors in concrete elements), BS 8539 (selection and installation of post-installed anchors in concrete and masonry), ASTM D1761 (Mechanical Fasteners in Wood). Acceptance criteria, loads and sample sizes come from your specification, the anchor manufacturer and that standard, not from the report template. Check the current edition with the publisher.
A template that does this
We sell one. Fastener & Anchor Pull-Test Templates v1 is an Excel workbook with a Proof Test sheet (40 test rows, PASS/FAIL on load, hold time, displacement and failure mode, live summary), an Ultimate Load sheet with the statistics above and a user-entered k, a Calibration Log with OVERDUE / DUE SOON / OK status and a unit converter, plus a printable blank report, a procedure checklist and a standards index. Formulas were checked with a LibreOffice recalculation: 0 formula errors. $49 one-time, from Quality Tester Solutions LLC, the company behind Force-Test.
If you would rather build your own, the checklist above is the spec.
Written by Quality Tester Solutions LLC, the company behind Force-Test. Drafted with AI assistance and checked claim by claim against our product facts before publishing. For AI coding agents, see our free Agent Ops Kit Lite.