Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)				1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Environmental Cleanup Matters	Apr. 30, 2014 Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Mar. 31, 2014 Collateral Trust Waste Control Specialists	Sep. 30, 2014 NL Environmental Remediation Sites Nl Named As Prp Or Defendant site	Apr. 30, 2014 Valhi Surety Bond Contran Waste Control Specialists	Dec. 31, 2013 Valhi Surety Bond Contran Waste Control Specialists	Sep. 30, 2014 Valhi Surety Bond Contran Cumulative Payment Waste Control Specialists	Sep. 30, 2014 Valhi Surety Bond Contran Quarterly Payment Waste Control Specialists	Apr. 30, 2021 Valhi Surety Bond Scenario, Forecast Contran Waste Control Specialists	Sep. 30, 2014 Lead Pigment Litigation NL Cases	Sep. 30, 2014 California Lead Paint Litigation NL	Sep. 30, 2014 Product Liability And Occupational Exposure Litigation Claims NL Pending Claims Plaintiff Cases	Sep. 30, 2014 Product Liability And Occupational Exposure Litigation Claims NL Administratively Dismissed Claims Plaintiff
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	124,800,000	122,700,000	7,800,000			117,000,000
Number of sites associated with remediation ad related costs						45
Upper end range, estimate costs for remediation and related matters						156,000,000
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%
Cash payments to collateral trust							2,000,000		9,700,000	1,300,000
Restricted cash					18,000,000
Decrease in restricted cash				$ 18,000,000
Collateral trust as a percent of value of bonds											50.00%