CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS Parenthetical (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data	Oct. 01, 2011	Dec. 25, 2010
Current assets:
Allowance for doubtful accounts	$ 1,807	$ 5,447
Mueller Industries, Inc, stockholders' equity:
Preferred stock - par value	$ 1	$ 1
Preferred stock - shares authorized	5,000,000	5,000,000
Preferred stock - shares outstanding	0	0
Common stock - par value	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Common stock - shares authorized	100,000,000	100,000,000
Common stock - shares issued	40,091,502	40,091,502
Common stock - shares outstanding	38,221,076	37,854,760