Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended
Aug. 31, 2020	Aug. 31, 2019
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Effective income tax expense rate	25.10%	25.50%
Corporate income tax rate	21.00%
Deferred income tax liability	$ 12,000,000.0
Unremitted foreign earnings	433,700,000
Provision for deferred income taxes	$ 0

Corporate income tax rate.

No definition available.

Name:	rpm_CorporateIncomeTaxRate
Namespace Prefix:	rpm_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of deferred tax liability attributable to taxable temporary differences from undistributed earnings of subsidiary and other recognized entity not within country of domicile. Includes, but is not limited to, other basis differences.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84230637&loc=d3e32621-109319

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilitiesUndistributedForeignEarnings
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of deferred tax liability not recognized because of the exceptions to comprehensive recognition of deferred taxes related to undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6424122&loc=d3e41874-109331

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DeferredTaxLiabilityNotRecognizedAmountOfUnrecognizedDeferredTaxLiabilityUndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Percentage of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 12
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84230637&loc=d3e32687-109319

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeTaxDisclosureAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries intended to be permanently reinvested outside the country of domicile.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 740
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6487024&loc=d3e29054-158556

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6424122&loc=d3e41874-109331

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 740
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6479915&loc=d3e66715-112838

Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 740
-SubTopic 10
-Section 25
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121573983&loc=d3e28200-109314

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant