Acquisitions (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended								1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2013 CarbonWrap product line	Dec. 31, 2011 Keymark	Dec. 31, 2012 Keymark Software development item	Dec. 31, 2013 Europe	Dec. 31, 2012 Europe	Dec. 31, 2011 Europe	Dec. 31, 2013 North America	Dec. 31, 2012 North America	Dec. 31, 2011 North America	Dec. 31, 2012 North America Keymark Software development	Dec. 31, 2011 Fox Industries, Inc. Simpson Strong Tie	Dec. 31, 2011 Fox Industries, Inc. North America Simpson Strong Tie	Dec. 31, 2011 Automatic Stamping and Automatic Stamping Auxiliary Services Simpson Strong Tie	Dec. 31, 2011 Automatic Stamping and Automatic Stamping Auxiliary Services North America Simpson Strong Tie	Jan. 31, 2012 S&P Clever	Jan. 31, 2012 S&P Clever Europe	Mar. 31, 2012 CarbonWrap Solutions, L.L.C	Mar. 31, 2012 CarbonWrap Solutions, L.L.C North America	Feb. 28, 2013 ShearBrace	Dec. 31, 2013 ShearBrace	Feb. 28, 2013 ShearBrace North America	Nov. 30, 2013 Bierbach	Nov. 30, 2013 Bierbach Europe
Acquisitions
Purchase price														$ 8,700,000		$ 43,500,000		$ 58,100,000		$ 5,500,000
Cash paid for acquisition																		57,500,000		5,300,000		5,300,000			1,200,000
Contingent consideration payable																		600,000		200,000					800,000
Maximum period for payment of contingent consideration																		3 years
Cash and cash equivalent																		6,800,000
Other current assets																		10,800,000
Non-current assets																		53,400,000
Current liabilities																		12,600,000
Non-current liabilities																		200,000
Goodwill	129,218,000	121,981,000	99,849,000				42,690,000	41,263,000	24,000,000	84,822,000	78,739,000	73,901,000	5,900,000		3,900,000		29,500,000		19,300,000		3,500,000		900,000	2,600,000		700,000
Intangible assets						3,000,000									2,900,000		4,600,000	20,500,000		1,700,000		1,900,000	3,600,000		600,000
Sale proceeds				3,800,000
Gain from discontinued operations, before income taxes				1,400,000
Long-lived intangibles related to in-progress product development																		4,800,000
Weighted-average amortization period						4 years 10 months 24 days								9 years 8 months 12 days		4 years 9 months 18 days		9 years 9 months 18 days					13 years 4 months 24 days
Amount paid					$ 11,500,000	$ 9,100,000
Number of employees hired to perform development work						39
Maximum period for payment for adjustments to provisional fair value measurements	1 year