Thank you all for your help. I find it interesting that some people
are saying that it's easily the result of saw kickback, and others are
suggesting that the whole thing is a hoax.

Obviously I can't prove it's not a hoax but I can pose this question--
how many hoaxers don't bother to hide their identities? If you go to
the site where I posted the photos (www.IvyLeagueComedy.com) you can
easily find out who I am-- there's even a link to my own website
www.BrainChampagne.com (I would've posted the photos there but my web
host gives me only 12 pages and I already had 12 pages up on Brain
Champagne). And while the email address I use to post on usenet
doesn't take emails (I posted a dummy address so avoid spam) there is
contact information on Brain Champagne, along with photos, my
biography...

I think that the molding was ripped and that's why it was scrap-- they
used only a portion of it. Thinking about it, though, I'm not sure it
was wood as it was rather light for an eight foot (give or take)
piece. Do they make plastic molding that looks like wood?

I did leave the detective a message but he hasn't called me back yet.
I'm reasonably sure that if I call him next week I'll be able to reach
him. I live in a small town and it's not like he's too busy
investigating murders to bother talking to me about molding. Plus, he
found it a bit interesting as he said he's worked construction.

Anyway, this happened over two months ago and I think the renovations
are finished-- their dumpster is gone, the house looks complete (at
least on the outside) and I no longer hear banging noises in the
morning.