Commitments and Contingencies (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 29, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 25, 2010	Dec. 29, 2012 Consulting Agreement [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 Facilities Vehicles and Equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Facilities Vehicles and Equipment [Member]	Dec. 25, 2010 Facilities Vehicles and Equipment [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 United States Department of Commerce and United States International Trade Commission Antidumping Investigation [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 United States Department of Commerce and United States International Trade Commission Antidumping Investigation [Member] Department of Commerce [Member]	Dec. 25, 2010 United States Department of Commerce and United States International Trade Commission Antidumping Investigation [Member] Department of Commerce [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 United States Department of Commerce and United States International Trade Commission Antidumping Investigation [Member] Department of Commerce [Member] Hailiang [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 United States Department of Commerce and United States International Trade Commission Antidumping Investigation [Member] Department of Commerce [Member] Golden Dragon [Member]	Dec. 25, 2010 United States Department of Commerce and United States International Trade Commission Antidumping Investigation [Member] International Trade Commission [Member]	Dec. 25, 2010 Insurance Settlement [Member] Bilston, Great Britain [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Insurance Settlement [Member] Fulton, Mississippi [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Insurance Settlement [Member] Fulton, Mississippi [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 Insurance Settlement [Member] Wynne, Arkansas [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Litigation Settlement [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 United States Department of Commerce Antidumping Review [Member]	Dec. 27, 2008 United States Department of Commerce Antidumping Review [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 Operating Properties [Member] Mueller Copper Tube Products, Inc. [Member]	Dec. 25, 2010 Operating Properties [Member] Belding Michigan Lead Matters [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 Non-Operating Properties [Member] Southeast Kansas Sites [Member]	Dec. 27, 2008 Non-Operating Properties [Member] Southeast Kansas Sites [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 Non-Operating Properties [Member] Shasta Area Mine Sites [Member]	Dec. 29, 2012 Non-Operating Properties [Member] Lead Refinery Site [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Non-Operating Properties [Member] Lead Refinery Site [Member]	Dec. 25, 2010 Non-Operating Properties [Member] Lead Refinery Site [Member]
Site Contingency [Line Items]
Environmental expense	$ 3,100,000	$ 400,000	$ 5,400,000																						$ 1,700,000	$ 100,000	$ 100,000	$ 100,000
Environmental reserves	24,600,000	22,892,000																				400,000		9,500,000
Expected environmental expenditures for 2013	1,900,000
Expected environmental expenditures for 2014	900,000
Expected environmental expenditures for 2015	800,000
Expected environmental expenditures for 2016	900,000
Expected environmental expenditures for 2017	900,000
Expected environmental expenditures after 2017	9,700,000
Number of former smelters																							2
Number of parties involved in settlement negotiations																							1
Number of smelting sites the company will share the preliminary site assessment costs																							1
Number of potentially responsible parties sharing site assessment cost																							2
Payment towards past costs																							10,000
Mitigation estimates minimum																					2,600,000				8,400,000	2,400,000
Mitigation estimates maximum																									12,400,000	3,600,000
Estimated number of years until mitigation resolution																					10Y				20Y	20Y
Lead refinery site [Abstract]
EPA's estimated cost of site remediation																										28,900,000
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Assignment of antidumping duty rate on U.S. imports by Company subsidiaries (in hundredths)																			19.80%	48.30%
Reserve for Antidumping Duties for Report Issued on April 19, 2010																			1,100,000	3,800,000
Gain Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of subsidiaries jointly filed antidumping petitions								2
Final antidumping rates minimum (in hundredths)										24.89%			11.25%
Final antidumping rates maximum (in hundredths)										27.16%			60.85%
Weighted average dumping margin (in hundredths)									5.53%
Percentage of dumping margin (in hundredths)											60.58%	0.00%
Insurance settlement proceeds														35,300,000
Insurance claim deductible amount														500,000
Pre-tax gain from settlement														21,200,000	1,500,000	1,500,000		10,500,000
Advance from insurance company																	65,000,000
Proceeds from insurance company received																	55,000,000
Property damage claim																	44,600,000
Supplier Litigation [Abstract]
Number of subsidiaries that filed related to supplier litigation	2
Litigation settlement amount	5,800,000
Canadian Dumping and Countervail Investigation [Abstract]
Initial period of potential antidumping duties	5 years
Potential additional antidumping term	5 years
Operating Leased Assets [Line Items]
Lease payments scheduled for 2013					7,300,000
Lease payments scheduled for 2014					6,000,000
Lease payments scheduled for 2015					5,000,000
Lease payments scheduled for 2016					4,200,000
Lease payments scheduled for 2017					3,200,000
Lease payments scheduled after 2017					3,500,000
Lease expense					8,500,000	8,800,000	8,000,000
Long-term Purchase Commitment [Line Items]
Consulting agreement term (in years)				6Y
Initial period of the consulting agreement				4 years
Initial period rate of pay based on final base compensation (in hundredths)				two-thirds
Final period of the consulting agreement				2 years
Final period rate of pay of based on final base compensation (in hundredths)				one-third
Remaining amount payable under the Consulting agreement				$ 5,300,000