Quarterly Financial Information (Unaudited) (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 29, 2018	Sep. 29, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2017	Jul. 01, 2017	Apr. 01, 2017	Dec. 29, 2018	Dec. 30, 2017		Dec. 31, 2016	[1]
Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Abstract]
Net sales	$ 559,087	$ 645,958	$ 662,773	$ 640,060	$ 523,524	$ 550,363	$ 614,266	$ 577,920	$ 2,507,878	$ 2,266,073	[1]	$ 2,055,622
Gross profit	85,133	79,002	98,953	94,390	66,907	79,101	89,955	89,493
Consolidated net income	27,731	20,863	33,882	24,344	5,969	22,754	27,833	30,455	106,820	87,011	[1],[2]	99,754	[2]
Net income attributable to Mueller Industries, Inc.	$ 26,857	$ 20,292	$ 33,182	$ 24,128	$ 5,720	$ 22,258	$ 27,633	$ 29,987	$ 104,459	$ 85,598	[1]	$ 99,727
Basic earnings per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.47	$ 0.36	$ 0.58	$ 0.42	$ 0.10	$ 0.39	$ 0.49	$ 0.53	$ 1.84	$ 1.50	[1]	$ 1.76
Diluted earnings per share (in dollars per share)	0.47	0.35	0.58	0.42	0.10	0.39	0.48	0.52	1.82	1.49	[1]	1.74
Dividends per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.10	$ 0.10	$ 0.10	$ 0.1	$ 0.10	$ 0.10	$ 0.10	$ 8.1	$ 0.4	$ 8.4	[1]	$ 0.375
Impairment charges					$ 1,100				$ 0	$ 1,466	[1],[2]	$ 6,778	[2]
Interest expense					4,300
Environmental expense, non operating properties					$ 6,200				$ 3,600	$ 4,300

[1] The Consolidated Statements of Income for prior periods have been adjusted to reflect the adoption of ASU 2017-07, Compensation - Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost. The components of net periodic benefit cost (income) other than the service cost component are included in other income, net in the Consolidated Statements of Income. Refer to Note 1 for further discussion.

[2] The Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for prior periods have been adjusted to reflect the adoption of ASU 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Restricted Cash. The Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows reflect the changes during the periods in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. Therefore, restricted cash activity is included with cash when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown. Refer to Note 1 for further discussion.