Family living in asbestos riddled home in Caerphilly

Gem Walker lives with her partner and two children aged 11 and 16 in their Risca Pobl home.

Ms Walker claims the family were told on October 23 that their ‘ceiling has tested positive for asbestos’ after suffering a ‘severe water leak in their bathroom’ nearly six months ago.

The family was also reportedly told the old ceiling would be taken down and replaced. However, when they plasterer arrived to put the new ceiling up, they found the old one had never been taken down.

In response a spokesperson for Pobl Group said they are liaising with the couple to ‘complete the work as soon as possible, and apologised for any inconvenience.’

The ceiling is riddled with asbestos (Image: Gem Walker)

Ms Walker said: “We had a severe water leak in the bathroom five and half months ago which has gone through and ruined the kitchen ceiling.

“This ceiling has asbestos in it which needs a specialist asbestos removal team. The whole ceiling needs to come down before it can be boarded and plastered.

“We were not notified until October 23 that the ceiling had tested positive for asbestos. When the plasterer came up to put up the new ceiling up he was told that the old one hadn’t even been taken down.

“On October 24 a painter came to paint our ceiling only for him to find out the ceiling still hasn’t been removed. Two trades people have had their time wasted.

“The outside contractors e.g. plumber, electrician and plasterer Pobl hired have even contacted them with no joy with regards to their specialist removal team who need to remove the asbestos ceiling.

“I have children in the house and am extremely concerned because everything you read about asbestos isn’t very good and can cause cancer etc.

“I was told it was ok because we aren’t touching it however the ceiling is broken which is concerning because of the open elements and we are in no doubt breathing it in.”

Gem said she is extremely concerned for her families safety (Image: Gem Walker)

The Risca family were told on October 31 that an asbestos removal team would be coming to remove the ceiling, however the works were unable to go through.

Ms Walker said: “I am absolutely disgusted with the service we are receiving. We were told that the asbestos removal team would be removing the ceiling on October 31, only for them to turn up and say they can’t remove it because the electric and gas needs to be capped in the kitchen.

“The ceiling light was capped last week but apparently that’s not correct and the gas cooker needs to be capped by a gas company, no one told us that or even organised for this to be done.

“We took the day off work to be at home for that and yet it still hasn’t been done, which also means we are down on wages. This is extremely unacceptable, why on earth do I pay my rent.

The family were told on October 23 that their ‘ceiling has tested positive for asbestos (Image: Gem Walker)

“My family and I are living in a house with a broken asbestos ceiling which is no doubt harmful to our health.

“Also, the trades people just turn up at my house without an appointment, most of the time they will not get an answer because myself and my partner work.

“This means we have to take time off work or organise for a relative to be on hand to allow access to trades people which means an appointment needs to be made in advance.

“They have caused so much stress for me and my family and is especially harming my on-going mental health issues.”

The asbestos has yet to be removed (Image: Gem Walker)

In response Pobl group said, ‘the discovery of asbestos and access to the property for their trades teams, have caused delays.’

A spokesperson for Pobl group said: "We are aware of issues raised by Mr Hartup and Miss Walker relating to their home on Elm Drive and are working with them to reach a satisfactory resolution. Having repaired the leak at the time of the initial report, we later received a report of further issues that needed attention. 

"A number of factors, including the discovery of asbestos and access to the property for our trades teams, have caused delays but we are liaising with Mr Hartup and Miss Walker to complete the work as soon as possible, and apologise for any inconvenience."