Question: I have heard of soapy sprays for bugs that are safe for the environment. With the season coming up, I wonder if there are any that I can make myself. -- Donald Bailey, Londonderry, N.H.Answer: There are a number of insecticide sprays that you can make. Soap is one of them, mixed in various strengths. You can make a spray of water and soap, which will be helpful when sprayed on roses and other plants. Commercial nontoxic sprays are also available. One brand name, Safer, is basically soap mixtures. You can find it in garden centers.
Grinding up old insect bodies such as Japanese beetles in a blender and combining them with water makes a good anti-bug spray, biodegradable, organic and safe. It will be effective against Japanese beetles and perhaps other bugs.
Don't tell your spouse that you pureed Japanese beetles in her blender.
Question: How can I clean old headstones or grave markers? Some of my family's stones are pretty spotty, stained and weather-beaten. -- L.C., Wichita, Kan.
Answer: Headstones, footstones and markers can take a real beating from the dry winds of Kansas. Slate and sandstone, usually in old cemeteries in the East, stand up the least, and marble tends to wear and stain badly. Granite is the best and longest-lasting, but all the materials can be cleaned the same way.
Here is what to try: Make a strong mix of Spic 'n' Span and water, and add a cup of household bleach. Wear skin and eye protection when working with bleach.
Apply this solution to the marker, and let it sit for several minutes, without evaporating. Then scrub with a bristle brush and rinse. Any solution that spills on the grass or earth will not hurt the greenery, although bleach can do a job on greenery if used full strength. Try this solution on a small, obscure area of the marker before doing the whole job to make sure it does not affect the marker in any way you don't like.
Easier to transport to the cemetery is mechanics' hand soap, the gel that really cuts through grease, oil, and dirt. Scrub this on and rinse thoroughly.
Finally, you could try StoneWash, a TileLab care product sold at Home Depot.
Question: My plastic-coated wire shelving is weirdly sticky and is driving me bananas. How can I make it unsticky? -- Jeanette Edsen, Houston.
Answer: Sticky plastic is always a pain, and since the development of plastic-coated wire shelving, it continues to be a problem. I also have heard of sticky vinyl wallpaper. I suggest washing the shelves with a solution of Spic 'n' Span and water, rinsing thoroughly, and toweling dry. If that doesn't work, wipe them down with rubbing alcohol. If all fails, try dusting the shelves with talcum powder.
And, a shot in the dark: polish the wire shelves with Armorall, sold in auto stores for treating vinyl dashboards and other vinyl material in cars.
Finally, the Improvements catalog carries a transparent liner for putting on wire shelves to keep things from falling through the shelving. This may take the curse off the stickiness, but it is plastic and might get sticky, too.
Question: The parquet floors in the old house I just moved into are heavily waxed and pretty dull. I'd like to remove the wax and put down polyurethane varnish, but both Home Depot and Bruce, the manufacturer of prefinished wood flooring, said that I cannot varnish over a waxed surface, even if I try to remove all the wax, enough wax will remain no matter what I do. Is this so? -- S.G., Chelmsford, Mass.
Answer: Well, you heard it from some pretty reliable sources, so you can take it from there. It is unlikely that you can get every bit of wax off (it gets into the pores and into the seams) so as not to interfere with varnish.
But wait a minute. That parquet is dull because there is too much wax on it, so don't try to remove the wax, but try simply to power buff it. If that restores the shine, you're all set.
If that doesn't work, strip the old wax with paint thinner, apply new wax, and power buff it.
Still another trick is to defy the specialists and strip the wax and apply two coats of an oil-based polyurethane varnish. But try it in a small area (1-by-1-foot or so) to see if it peels or fails. If there is wax present, it will fail quickly. If not, finish the floor.
But no floor should be waxed because it needs too much maintenance.
Globe Handyman Peter Hotton will answer reader questions. Write him at the Boston Globe, Boston, MA, 02107, or e-mail him at hotton@globe.com.