I've never lived with forced-air heat so I can't compare. The only
complaint I have about my hot water system is that the pipes clang and
nobody's been able to do anything about it (and there's no air bleed
anywhere I can find, if air has anything to do with it-- last year a
plumber flushed the system and all that did was lead to more water-
rushing noises).

To get back to the original issue-- it happened two months ago and I
just now got around to posting because I've been busy and it hasn't
been a high priority. Regardless, the timing wouldn't affect whether
I'm making this all up (which I'm not).

Some more details:

The house behind me was a two-story house and they added a third
story. The construction took quite a long time-- I think the
contractors were probably only working there part-time.

My back yard slopes down towards their house, but their yard slopes
down toward the back also, so their first floor windows are roughly
the same elevation as mine-- or at least it looks that way from my
living room window.

The houses are in lower Westchester County, NY. My house is a
colonial style built in the mid sixties. I don't know when the house
behind me was first built. I can't comment on any saw marks on the
molding since I don't have it (the detective pulled it out of my house
when he investigated, and took it away-- I'm hoping he still has it).
Since he worked construction he probably would remember whether it was
wood or plastic, and whether it was cut (which I think it was). I
don't particularly remember any saw marks.

Also, I had to shrink the photos to fit them onto the website, but if
anybody really wants photos with more resolution feel free to contact
me through the website I posted the photos on-- but be prepared
because I think they're around 5 meg each, on average.

-Shaun