Guarantor Non-Guarantor Subsidiary Financial Information Level 4 (Details) - Consolidating Statement of Operations (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2012
Net sales	$ 1,249	$ 1,177	$ 3,691	$ 3,672
Cost of sales	1,092	1,037	3,239	3,189
Gross profit	157	140	452	483
Selling, general and administrative expense	93	74	274	238
Asset impairments	0	0	7	23
Business realignment costs	4	11	15	29
Other operating expense (income), net	2	4	4	3
Operating income	58	51	152	190
Interest expense, net	77	66	227	198
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt	0	0	6	0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	(2)	(2)	1	(1)
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(17)	(13)	(82)	(7)
Income tax (benefit) expense	57	(351)	31	(349)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(74)	338	(113)	342
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(2)	4	5	15
Net income	(76)	342	(108)	357
Comprehensive income (loss)	(48)	361	(108)	362
Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. [Member]
Net sales	553	523	1,662	1,637
Cost of sales	475	447	1,424	1,390
Gross profit	78	76	238	247
Selling, general and administrative expense	28	2	85	49
Asset impairments			0	0
Business realignment costs	2	3	8	7
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0	3	(4)
Operating income	48	71	142	195
Interest expense, net	7	14	25	44
Intercompany interest expense (income)	(31)	(33)	(122)	(98)
Loss on extinguishment of debt			2
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	(25)	(6)	(18)	5
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	35	30	11	48
Income tax (benefit) expense	61	(346)	19	(344)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(26)	376	(8)	392
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(50)	(34)	(100)	(35)
Net income	(76)	342	(108)	357
Comprehensive income (loss)	(48)	361	(108)	362
Subsidiary Issuers [Member]
Net sales	0	0	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0	0	0
Gross profit	0	0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0	0	0
Asset impairments			0	0
Business realignment costs	0	0	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	2	(4)	2
Operating income	0	(2)	4	(2)
Interest expense, net	68	45	196	130
Intercompany interest expense (income)	69	47	199	138
Loss on extinguishment of debt			0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	(2)	0	(2)
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	1	2	7	8
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	1	1	1
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	1	1	6	7
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	0	0	0	0
Net income	1	1	6	7
Comprehensive income (loss)	1	6	6	10
Combined Subsidiary Guarantors [Member]
Net sales	0	0	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0	0	0
Gross profit	0	0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0	0	0
Asset impairments			0	0
Business realignment costs	0	0	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	(1)	(1)	(1)	(1)
Operating income	1	1	1	1
Interest expense, net	0	0	0	0
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt			0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	1	1	1	1
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0	0	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	1	1	1	1
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(32)	(26)	(55)	(23)
Net income	(31)	(25)	(54)	(22)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(31)	(26)	(54)	(22)
Combined Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Net sales	748	721	2,185	2,251
Cost of sales	669	657	1,971	2,015
Gross profit	79	64	214	236
Selling, general and administrative expense	65	72	189	189
Asset impairments			7	23
Business realignment costs	2	8	7	22
Other operating expense (income), net	3	3	6	6
Operating income	9	(19)	5	(4)
Interest expense, net	2	7	6	24
Intercompany interest expense (income)	(38)	(14)	(77)	(40)
Loss on extinguishment of debt			4
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	23	6	19	(4)
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(54)	(46)	(101)	(64)
Income tax (benefit) expense	(4)	(6)	11	(6)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(50)	(40)	(112)	(58)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	0	1	2	3
Net income	(50)	(39)	(110)	(55)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(40)	(36)	(118)	(56)
Eliminations [Member]
Net sales	(52)	(67)	(156)	(216)
Cost of sales	(52)	(67)	(156)	(216)
Gross profit	0	0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0	0	0
Asset impairments			0
Business realignment costs	0	0	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0	0	0
Operating income	0	0	0	0
Interest expense, net	0	0	0	0
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt			0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0	0	0
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0	0	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0	0	0
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	80	63	158	70
Net income	80	63	158	70
Comprehensive income (loss)	$ 70	$ 56	$ 166	$ 68