Debt - Lines of Credit and Other Debt Facilities (Details) - USD ($)	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt and capital lease obligations	$ 5,399,600,000	$ 5,447,200,000
Line of Credit
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Outstanding letters of credit	17,500,000	19,300,000
Reduction in borrowings	16,800,000	18,600,000
Line of Credit \| Lines of Credit and Revolving Lines of Credit
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt and capital lease obligations	0	0
Remaining borrowing capacity	$ 497,000,000	$ 509,000,000

Line of Credit Facility, Reduction to Borrowing Base From Outstanding Letters of Credit

No definition available.

Name:	pah_LineofCreditFacilityReductiontoBorrowingBaseFromOutstandingLettersofCredit
Namespace Prefix:	pah_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

The total amount of the contingent obligation under letters of credit outstanding as of the reporting date.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount of borrowing capacity currently available under the credit facility (current borrowing capacity less the amount of borrowings outstanding).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19(b),22(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount of long-term debt and capital lease obligations including current maturities.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=us-gaap_LineOfCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=pah_LinesofCreditandRevolvingLinesofCreditMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: