Revenue Recognition - Additional Information (Detail)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018 a
Disaggregation Of Revenue [Line Items]
Standard payment terms	less than one year
Residential/Planned Community
Disaggregation Of Revenue [Line Items]
Area of real estate property	2,100
Percentage of variable consideration	1.00%
Commercial and Light Industrial Use
Disaggregation Of Revenue [Line Items]
Area of real estate property	400
Residential Housing Unit
Disaggregation Of Revenue [Line Items]
Percentage of sales price	3.50%
Maximum
Disaggregation Of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue recognition period	1 year

Area of a real estate property.

No definition available.

Name:	us-gaap_AreaOfRealEstateProperty
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:areaItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisaggregationOfRevenueLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Description of payment terms in contract with customer. Includes, but is not limited to, timing of payment, existence of financing component, variability of consideration and constraint on variable consideration.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 12
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82913847&loc=SL49130554-203045

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RevenuePerformanceObligationDescriptionOfPaymentTerms
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Period in which remaining performance obligation is expected to be recognized as revenue, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 13
-Subparagraph (b)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82913847&loc=SL49130556-203045

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 270
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1A
-Subparagraph (e)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84173487&loc=SL51747714-108306

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RevenueRemainingPerformanceObligationExpectedTimingOfSatisfactionPeriod
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Variable consideration related to the participation in the builders sales.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	vhi_PercentageOfSalesPriceParticipation
Namespace Prefix:	vhi_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Variable consideration received to market and promote residential/planned community.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	vhi_PercentageOfVariableConsiderationMarketingFee
Namespace Prefix:	vhi_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MortgageLoansOnRealEstateDescriptionTypeOfPropertyAxis=vhi_ResidentialOrPlannedCommunityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MortgageLoansOnRealEstateDescriptionTypeOfPropertyAxis=vhi_CommercialAndLightIndustrialUseMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MortgageLoansOnRealEstateDescriptionTypeOfPropertyAxis=us-gaap_MultifamilyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RangeAxis=us-gaap_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: