Asphalt is one of the oldest construction products used as a waterproofing membrane system. It is heated to 200+ degrees celcius and applied by qualified installers with wooden floats and trowels.
Most, if not all, dust etc. is kept outside of the property however the smoke may cause your alarms to go off. The product is carried in metal buckets which are poured out where desired.
It's main property is damp proofing however it can be used to create one floor type throughout a property and even level floors to an extent.
Any product that is suitable for mastic asphalt.
If you get damp and a property survey suggets to do so then yes. Plastic damp proof membranes can fail and it's one of the biggest causes of damp in a building.
The more floors we do, the more often we get told by long time home owners that they've never had any damp problems before however only recently has it occured. We can't say for definite what causes this but we reckon with sea levels rising it's causing the water table to rise thus causing damp issues.