Guarantor Non-Guarantor Subsidiary Financial Information Level 4 (Details) - Consolidating Statement of Operations (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2014	Mar. 31, 2013
Net sales	$ 1,293	$ 1,192
Cost of sales	1,129	1,049
Gross profit	164	143
Selling, general and administrative expense	96	92
Business realignment costs	6	9
Other operating expense (income), net	4	(3)
Operating income	58	45
Interest expense, net	77	74
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt	0	6
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	2	5
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(21)	(40)
Income tax (benefit) expense	10	(32)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(31)	(8)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	4	4
Net income	(27)	(4)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(21)	(17)
Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. [Member]
Net sales	578	537
Cost of sales	505	464
Gross profit	73	73
Selling, general and administrative expense	28	28
Business realignment costs	5	4
Other operating expense (income), net	1	4
Operating income	39	37
Interest expense, net	8	10
Intercompany interest expense (income)	(43)	(44)
Loss on extinguishment of debt		2
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	15
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(12)	(34)
Income tax (benefit) expense	(1)	(38)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(11)	4
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(16)	(8)
Net income	(27)	(4)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(21)	(17)
Subsidiary Issuers [Member]
Net sales	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0
Business realignment costs	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	(4)
Operating income	0	4
Interest expense, net	67	61
Intercompany interest expense (income)	68	63
Loss on extinguishment of debt		0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	1	6
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	1
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	1	5
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	0	0
Net income	1	5
Comprehensive income (loss)	(148)	4
Combined Subsidiary Guarantors [Member]
Net sales	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0
Business realignment costs	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0
Operating income	0	0
Interest expense, net	0	0
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt		0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(1)	(6)
Net income	(1)	(6)
Comprehensive income (loss)	124	(7)
Combined Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Net sales	772	708
Cost of sales	681	638
Gross profit	91	70
Selling, general and administrative expense	68	64
Business realignment costs	1	5
Other operating expense (income), net	3	(3)
Operating income	19	4
Interest expense, net	2	3
Intercompany interest expense (income)	(25)	(19)
Loss on extinguishment of debt		4
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	2	(10)
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(10)	(12)
Income tax (benefit) expense	11	5
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(21)	(17)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	1	1
Net income	(20)	(16)
Comprehensive income (loss)	107	(16)
Eliminations [Member]
Net sales	(57)	(53)
Cost of sales	(57)	(53)
Gross profit	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0
Business realignment costs	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0
Operating income	0	0
Interest expense, net	0	0
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt		0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	20	17
Net income	20	17
Comprehensive income (loss)	$ (83)	$ 19