Quarterly Financial Information (Unaudited) (Details) (USD $) Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended																12 Months Ended
	Dec. 28, 2013		Sep. 28, 2013		Jun. 29, 2013		Mar. 30, 2013		Dec. 29, 2012		Sep. 29, 2012		Jun. 30, 2012		Mar. 31, 2012		Dec. 28, 2013	Dec. 29, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Quarterly Financial Information (Unaudited) [Abstract]
Net sales	$ 487,715,000		$ 528,854,000		$ 582,282,000		$ 559,690,000		$ 504,006,000		$ 514,165,000		$ 594,099,000		$ 577,668,000
Gross profit	65,903,000	[1]	72,552,000	[1]	81,157,000	[1]	76,840,000	[1]	65,287,000	[1]	64,447,000	[1]	71,248,000	[1]	84,493,000	[1]
Consolidated net income	15,020,000		39,993,000	[2]	91,842,000	[3]	26,434,000		16,746,000	[4]	15,570,000		18,540,000		32,817,000	[5]	173,289,000	83,673,000	87,086,000
Net income attributable to Mueller Industries, Inc.	15,384,000		39,864,000		91,150,000		26,202,000		16,368,000		15,511,000		17,917,000		32,599,000		172,600,000	82,395,000	86,321,000
Basic earnings per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.55	[6]	$ 1.43	[6]	$ 3.27	[6]	$ 0.94	[6]	$ 0.59	[6]	$ 0.41		$ 0.47		$ 0.86		$ 6.19	$ 2.33	$ 2.28
Diluted earnings per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.54	[6]	$ 1.41	[6]	$ 3.23	[6]	$ 0.93	[6]	$ 0.58	[6]	$ 0.41		$ 0.47		$ 0.85		$ 6.11	$ 2.31	$ 2.26
Dividends per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.125		$ 0.125		$ 0.125		$ 0.125		$ 0.125		$ 0.10		$ 0.10		$ 0.10		$ 0.50	$ 0.43	$ 0.40
Effect of LIFO Inventory Liquidation on Income															8,000,000
Gain on insurance settlement					106,300,000										1,500,000
Shares repurchased from Leucadia (in shares)									10.4
Gain on sale of manufacturing assets			39,800,000														39,765,000	0	0
Pre-tax impairment charges related to real property			4,300,000
Litigation settlement amount									$ 4,100,000

[1] Gross profit is net sales less cost of goods sold, which excludes depreciation and amortization.

[2] Includes $39.8 million pre-tax gain on sale of manufacturing assets and pre-tax impairment charges of $4.3 million primarily related to real property associated with the aforementioned plastics sale transaction.

[3] Includes $106.3 million pre-tax gain from settlement of insurance claims.

[4] Includes $4.1 million net gain from settlement of litigation.

[5] Includes pre-tax gain of $8.0 million from liquidation of LIFO inventory layers and $1.5 million from settlement of insurance claims.

[6] Includes the repurchase of 10.4 million shares from Leucadia in September 2012