Hi Krzychu,

I was very close to doing something stupid.

Not small stupid.

Big stupid.

Carry more than 1000 kg of bathroom tiles almost by hand stupid.

I am renovating a place with two bathrooms. So I ordered two types of tiles.

The place is on floor 12. About 35 meters above the ground.

And then the fun started.

There were two ways to bring the tiles in.

1. Main entrance
   Walk around 100 to 200 meters with steps on the way. Again and again.
2. Level minus 2
   Drive down and stop right next to the elevator.

Option two was much better.

Easy.

Except the entrance to level minus 2 is only 2.2 meters high.

Small cars and vans can enter.

A normal delivery truck cannot.

And the tile shop told me a medium truck was coming. Too tall for the garage. Too heavy to just carry.

And more than 1000 kg of tiles were waiting for me.

So I started making a very bad plan.

I was looking for a stair climbing hand truck. One of those carts that can climb steps.

Maybe it could carry 50 to 100 kg at once.

That meant maybe 10 to 20 walks just to move the tiles from the truck to the elevator.

And every walk would be heavy.

Very heavy.

Then delivery day came.

The driver arrived with a mid size Iveco truck. Too big to enter level minus 2.

And then he opened the back and showed me an old pallet jack.

Nothing fancy.

Nothing smart.

Just an old strong cart that still worked perfectly.

And that was the aha moment.

Because that old cart could go down to level minus 2 from the car entrance.

So instead of 10 or 20 painful walks, we moved all the tiles next to the elevator in two easy trips.

I cannot tell you how much time and energy that old cart saved me.

And this is exactly how I now think about infrared devices.

• Your old TV
• Your fan
• Your air conditioner
• Your heater
• Your receiver

If it still works with an IR remote, you do not always need to replace it.

You may just need the right helper.

For the tiles it was an old pallet jack.

For smart home devices it can be Home Assistant plus an IR blaster.

That is why I made this video.

Home Assistant is finally making IR control feel much more useful. Not like a messy trick. More like a normal part of your smart home.

The video is already live here:
Watch the Home Assistant IR video on YouTube

If you want to help me:

1. Click the video only if you want to watch it
2. Watch the full YouTube video till the end
3. If this topic is not for you, it is better to skip it entirely

That sounds strange, but it helps.

YouTube likes it when people who click actually watch.

Click here to watch the full video

Talk soon,
Kiril

PS If Home Assistant can save my old IR devices like that pallet jack saved my back, I may need to give both of them a medal.

Watch the video here