Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)					1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Apr. 30, 2014 Subsequent Event Contran Waste Control Specialists	Mar. 31, 2014 Other Environmental Cleanup Matters	Apr. 30, 2014 Surety Bond Subsequent Event Waste Control Specialists	Sep. 30, 2014 Surety Bond Subsequent Event Waste Control Specialists	Mar. 31, 2014 Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2013 Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Apr. 30, 2014 Collateral Trust Subsequent Event Waste Control Specialists	Mar. 31, 2014 NL Environmental Remediation Sites Nl Named As Prp Or Defendant site	Mar. 31, 2014 NL Lead Pigment Litigation Cases	Mar. 31, 2014 NL California Lead Paint Litigation	Mar. 31, 2014 NL Product Liability And Occupational Exposure Litigation Claims Pending Claims Plaintiff Cases	Mar. 31, 2014 NL Product Liability And Occupational Exposure Litigation Claims Administratively Dismissed Claims Plaintiff	Mar. 31, 2014 Valhi Surety Bond Contran Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2013 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
Accrual for reasonably estimable environmental remediation and related matters	122,200,000	122,700,000		8,900,000						113,000,000
Number of sites associated with remediation ad related costs										45
Upper end range, estimate costs for remediation and related matters										153,000,000
Number of sites for which NL not currently able to estimate range of costs										5
Cases pending													1,130
Number of plaintiffs involved													1,643	8,298
Surety bond purchased from third party insurance company			85,300,000													32,200,000
Collateral trust as a percent of value of bonds								2.50%	50.00%
Cash payments to collateral trust					2,000,000	1,300,000									5,700,000
Restricted cash							18,000,000
Decrease in restricted cash									$ 18,000,000