Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended																			3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended							9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer Concentration Risk Component Products Segment Harley Davidson Inc	Dec. 31, 2012 Customer Concentration Risk Component Products Segment Harley Davidson Inc	Dec. 31, 2011 Customer Concentration Risk Component Products Segment Harley Davidson Inc	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer Concentration Risk Component Products Segment San Mateo Postal Data	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer Concentration Risk Waste Management Segment Tennessee Valley Authority	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer Concentration Risk Waste Management Segment Studsvik, Inc.	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer Concentration Risk Waste Management Segment Department of Energy	Dec. 31, 2013 Customer Concentration Risk Top Ten Customers Component Products Segment	Dec. 31, 2012 Customer Concentration Risk Top Ten Customers Component Products Segment	Dec. 31, 2011 Customer Concentration Risk Top Ten Customers Component Products Segment	Dec. 31, 2013 Chemicals TiO2 Product Customer	Dec. 31, 2012 Chemicals TiO2 Product	Dec. 31, 2011 Chemicals TiO2 Product	Dec. 31, 2013 Chemicals Customer Concentration Risk Top Ten Customers	Dec. 31, 2012 Chemicals Customer Concentration Risk Top Ten Customers	Dec. 31, 2011 Chemicals Customer Concentration Risk Top Ten Customers	Dec. 31, 2013 Chemical Segment Feedstock Ore	Dec. 31, 2013 Chemical Segment Other Supply And Service Contracts	Dec. 31, 2013 Surety Bond Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2013 Additional Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2012 Additional Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2013 Additional Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2011 Additional Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2013 Additional Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2013 Other Environmental Cleanup Matters	Dec. 31, 2013 NL Cases	Dec. 31, 2013 NL One Beacon	Dec. 31, 2013 NL Environmental Remediation Sites Nl Named As Prp Or Defendant site	Dec. 31, 2011 NL Insurance claims Lead Pigment Litigation With Insurance Carriers	Dec. 31, 2010 NL Insurance claims Lead Pigment Litigation With Insurance Carriers	Dec. 31, 2013 NL Environmental Obligations	Dec. 31, 2013 NL Environmental Obligations Certain Obligations Discounted to Present Value	Dec. 31, 2013 NL California Lead Paint Litigation	Dec. 31, 2013 NL Product Liability And Occupational Exposure Litigation Claims Pending Claims Plaintiff Cases	Dec. 31, 2013 NL Product Liability And Occupational Exposure Litigation Claims Administratively Dismissed Claims Plaintiff	Sep. 30, 2013 Kronos Worldwide, Inc. Pricing Litigation Settlement	Dec. 31, 2013 Behr Process Corporation Chemicals Customer Concentration Risk	Dec. 31, 2012 Behr Process Corporation Chemicals Customer Concentration Risk	Dec. 31, 2013 Valhi Surety Bond Contran Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2012 Valhi Surety Bond Contran Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2011 Valhi Surety Bond Contran Waste Control Specialists
Commitments And Contingent Liabilities [Line Items]
Number of cases settled and dismissed and found not liable																														100
Period by which loss contingency claims settled and dismissed																														20 years
Payments for litigation																																					$ 1,150,000,000
Additions charged to expense, net																																			11,300,000	5,600,000
Aggregate payments related to additions charged to expense on undiscounted basis																																			6,000,000
Payments related to additions charged to expense on undiscounted basis, 2012																																			2,000,000
Payments related to additions charged to expense on undiscounted basis, 2013																																			1,000,000
Payments related to additions charged to expense on undiscounted basis, 2014																																			1,000,000
Payments related to additions charged to expense on undiscounted basis, 2015																																			1,000,000
Payments related to additions charged to expense on undiscounted basis, 2016																																			1,000,000
Discount rate																																			3.00%
Aggregate payments related to additions charged to expense on discounted basis																																			400,000
Accrual for reasonably estimable environmental remediation and related matters	122,700,000	50,200,000	43,200,000	42,300,000																									9,000,000			114,000,000
Number of sites associated with remediation ad related costs																																45
Upper end range, estimate costs for remediation and related matters																																154,000,000
Number of sites for which NL not currently able to estimate range of costs																																5
Insurance recoveries	9,400,000	3,300,000	16,900,000																														16,900,000	7,200,000
Litigation settlement receivable																															3,900,000
Cases pending																																						1,130
Number of plaintiffs involved																																						1,643	8,298
Case conclusion settlement amount																																								35,000,000
General and administrative	375,100,000	273,300,000	268,900,000																																					35,000,000
Concentration risk percentage					12.00%	12.00%	13.00%	13.00%	30.00%	15.00%	10.00%	42.00%	38.00%	39.00%	90.00%	90.00%	92.00%	34.00%	34.00%	30.00%																					10.00%	10.00%
Sale of TiO2, number of customers															4,000
Minimum purchase commitments																					820,000,000	123,000,000
Rent expense	15,800,000	16,300,000	13,300,000
Surety bond purchased from third party insurance company																												119,500,000															32,200,000	23,400,000	20,000,000
Collateral trust as a percent of value of bonds																											2.50%
Cash payments to collateral trust																										4,900,000
Surety bond purchased of state of Texas in aggregate																							12,350,000
Increase in restricted cash																								$ 18,000,000	$ 18,000,000