Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Basic Management, Inc. USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 Chemicals USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2012 France USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 France USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 France	Dec. 31, 2012 Taiwan USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Proposed adjustment to certain foreign tax liabilities CAD	Dec. 31, 2013 Proposed adjustment to certain foreign tax liabilities Maximum USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Kronos Worldwide, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2013 Kronos Worldwide, Inc. German corporate USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Kronos Worldwide, Inc. Trade tax purposes USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Kronos Worldwide, Inc. Belgian corporate tax purposes USD ($)
Income Taxes Disclosure [Line Items]
Surtax on dividend distributions									3.00%
Distributed dividend							$ 8.9
Earnings of foreign subsidiaries subject to permanent reinvestment plan		900.0	1,000.0					11.0
Net incremental tax benefit	11.1					3.1
Tax related to non-cash dividend distributions										8.0
Provision for income taxes				17.2
Letter of credit collateralized											7.9
Potential tax liability full amount for the proposed adjustment												15.7
Unrecognized tax benefits impact on effective tax rate		29.2	27.9	23.5
Increase (decrease) in unrecognized tax benefits		8.2
Accrued interest and penalties during the period		1.3	0.9	0.6
Accrued interest and penalties end of the period		5.0	4.1
Net operating loss carryforwards														842	127	102
Deferred income tax asset valuation allowance		0
Equity ownership percentage					32.00%
Controlling interest in subsidiary					63.00%								80.00%
Income tax expense (benefit)		$ (91.0)	$ 104.8	$ 169.9	$ 11.1