Consolidated Statements Of Operations (USD $) In Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Revenues and other income:
Net sales	$ 2,084.1	$ 1,592.7	$ 1,272.1
Other income, net	56.9	58.5	69.7
Total revenues and other income	2,141.0	1,651.2	1,341.8
Costs and expenses:
Cost of sales	1,326.4	1,229.9	1,135.7
Selling, general and administrative	278.6	236.8	227.6
Litigation settlement and contract termination expense		33.3
Loss on prepayment of debt, net	3.1
Assets held for sale write-down	1.1	0.5	0.7
Interest	61.9	68.4	66.7
Total costs and expenses	1,671.1	1,568.9	1,430.7
Income (loss) before income taxes	469.9	82.3	(88.9)
Provision for income taxes (benefit)	174.9	18.5	(50.8)
Net income (loss)	295.0	63.8	(38.1)
Noncontrolling interest in net income (loss) of subsidiaries	77.5	13.5	(3.9)
Net income (loss) attributable to Valhi stockholders	$ 217.5	$ 50.3	$ (34.2)
Amounts attributable to Valhi stockholders:
Basic and diluted earnings per share	$ 1.91	$ 0.42	$ (0.30)
Cash dividends per share	$ 0.475	$ 0.40	$ 0.40
Basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding	114.0	114.3	114.3