CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited) (Parenthetical) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	Jun. 28, 2014	Dec. 28, 2013
Current assets:
Allowance for doubtful accounts	$ 854	$ 2,391
Mueller Industries, Inc. stockholders' equity:
Preferred stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 1.00	$ 1.00
Preferred stock, shares authorized (in shares)	5,000,000	5,000,000
Preferred stock, shares outstanding (in shares)	0	0
Common stock, par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Common stock, shares authorized (in shares)	100,000,000	100,000,000
Common stock, shares issued (in shares)	80,183,004	80,183,004
Common stock, shares outstanding (in shares)	56,712,056	56,604,674	[1]

[1] Adjusted retroactively to reflect the two-for-one stock split that occurred on March 14, 2014.