CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Parenthetical) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Sep. 30, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Current assets:
Allowance for doubtful accounts	$ 854	$ 637
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)	57,804,707	57,395,209