My sugar shack currently has a cupola with the doors hinged on the bottom. I have a rope and pulley system to close them and they open by gravity (with a slight push with a long stick at times). The problem with the doors opening this way is that my east side door often gets covered with ash while it's open due to prevailing winds. The west door allows rain and snow in again due to the prevailing wind. This means that I end up dumping ash and or snow into the shack when I close the doors.

I'd like to switch them so they are hinged at the top which I think will help keep weather and ash out of the shack. The challenge I have, is how to open them? They would need to be pushed open somehow.