How to Read an Anchor ESR Report (ICC-ES)

If you've ever downloaded the PDF evaluation report for a concrete anchor — usually titled something like "ICC-ES Evaluation Report ESR-XXXX" — you've probably been met with twenty-plus pages of dense tables, footnotes, and engineering notation. Most of it is irrelevant to any single project. This guide points you to the handful of sections and values that actually matter, so you can pull the numbers you need without reading the whole document.

What an ESR Report Is

An ICC-ES (International Code Council Evaluation Service) Evaluation Report documents that a specific anchor product, manufactured by a specific company, has been tested under the ACI 355.2 (mechanical anchors) or ACI 355.4 (adhesive anchors) protocols and evaluated against the ACI 318-19 framework we covered in ACI 318-19 explained for homeowners. Building officials widely accept ESR reports as evidence that a product meets code requirements — which is why "does this anchor have a current ESR?" is one of the first questions worth asking for any structural application.

Each report covers one product line (sometimes across multiple diameters and lengths) from one manufacturer. You can find these reports on the ICC-ES website by searching the product name or ESR number, or on the manufacturer's own product page (usually linked as "technical data" or "ESR report").

The Sections That Actually Matter

1. Recognized Uses / Scope

Near the top of the report, this section states what the anchor is approved for — e.g., "for use in cracked and uncracked normal-weight concrete" or "for use in uncracked concrete only." This single sentence often answers the cracked-vs-uncracked question from our ACI 318-19 guide for that specific product.

2. Installation Instructions

This section (often with diagrams) shows the actual drilling and setting procedure the anchor was tested with — including hole diameter, cleaning method, and any specific torque or driving instructions. If your installation deviates from this procedure (different bit size, skipped cleaning step), the published capacities technically don't apply, since they were established under this specific procedure.

3. Tables of Design Information

This is where the actual numbers live — typically organized by anchor diameter and embedment depth, with columns for values including:

• h_ef (effective embedment depth) — see our embedment depth guide for why this matters so much.
• c_ac (critical edge distance) and s_cr (critical spacing) — the values that the generic 5D/10D rules in our spacing and edge distance guide approximate.
• Steel strength values for tension and shear — the anchor's capacity if the steel itself governs.
• Concrete breakout values for tension and shear — typically given for a reference concrete strength (often 2,500 or 3,000 PSI for "normal-weight concrete") with formulas or factors for adjusting to other strengths.
• Installation torque — the specific torque value(s) the anchor was tested at.

You generally won't need every column — for a typical residential project, the embedment depth, critical edge distance/spacing, and installation torque are the most immediately actionable values. The strength values matter most when you're checking whether a specific anchor meets a specific calculated load.

4. Allowable Stress Design (ASD) vs. Strength Design (LRFD) Tables

Many reports publish capacity values in two different formats: Allowable Stress Design (ASD) values, which already include a safety factor and can be compared more directly to a "service load" you're trying to support, and Strength Design (LRFD) values, which are used with load factors in a more formal engineering calculation. If you're doing a rough by-hand check for a DIY project, the ASD ("allowable") values are generally the more directly usable ones — they're closer in concept to the "safe working load" terminology used elsewhere on this site.

What You Can Usually Skip

Most ESR reports include several pages that are rarely relevant for a single residential installation:

• Manufacturing and quality control sections — these document the manufacturer's production process for code-compliance purposes and don't affect how you use the product.
• Seismic design category tables — relevant only if your project is in a jurisdiction with seismic design requirements that apply to your specific connection.
• Fire resistance data — relevant for specific fire-rated assembly applications, uncommon in typical DIY anchoring.

A Practical Approach

For most projects, here's the realistic workflow:

1. Identify the anchor product and diameter you're considering.
2. Find its ESR report (manufacturer site or ICC-ES search).
3. Confirm the "recognized uses" section covers your base material (cracked vs. uncracked concrete, or hollow/brick if applicable for that product).
4. Find the design table row matching your diameter and intended embedment depth.
5. Note the c_ac/s_cr (edge/spacing) and ASD capacity values.
6. Compare the ASD capacity to your actual load — with margin.

If this sounds like more work than you want to do for a shelf bracket — that's a fair reaction, and it's exactly why the generic guidance throughout our anchor guides exists for lighter applications. ESR-level detail becomes worthwhile when the load is significant, the installation is constrained (tight spacing, near an edge), or when an inspector specifically asks for documentation. For any of those situations, the Anchor Specification Engine effectively automates this entire lookup-and-comparison process for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I actually find an anchor's ESR number?

It's usually printed directly on the product packaging or in the product description on the manufacturer's website. You can then search that ESR number directly on the ICC-ES website (icc-es.org) to pull the current report PDF.

Do ESR reports expire?

Yes — they're periodically renewed, and manufacturers occasionally update products in ways that change their ESR. Always check the report's effective/expiration dates and use the current version, especially for any project where documentation might be reviewed.

What if a product doesn't have an ESR report at all?

That doesn't necessarily mean the product is unsafe for light-duty use, but it does mean there's no third-party-evaluated capacity data to reference — you're relying entirely on the manufacturer's own claims. For anything beyond light-duty, non-structural use, sticking to products with current ESR reports (as recommended throughout our buying advice) is the safer choice.