CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Parenthetical) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	Dec. 27, 2014	Dec. 28, 2013
Current assets:
Allowance for doubtful accounts	$ 666	$ 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)	5,000,000us-gaap_PreferredStockSharesAuthorized	5,000,000us-gaap_PreferredStockSharesAuthorized
Preferred stock, shares outstanding (in shares)	0us-gaap_PreferredStockSharesOutstanding	0us-gaap_PreferredStockSharesOutstanding
Common stock- par value (in dollars per share)	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Common stock- shares authorized (in shares)	100,000,000us-gaap_CommonStockSharesAuthorized	100,000,000us-gaap_CommonStockSharesAuthorized
Common stock- shares issued (in shares)	80,183,004us-gaap_CommonStockSharesIssued	80,183,004us-gaap_CommonStockSharesIssued
Common stock- shares outstanding (in shares)	56,901,445us-gaap_CommonStockSharesOutstanding	56,604,674us-gaap_CommonStockSharesOutstanding

A valuation allowance for trade and other receivables due to an Entity within one year (or the normal operating cycle, whichever is longer) that are expected to be uncollectible.

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