Business Segment Information - Additional Information (Detail) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2022 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2022 USD ($)
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Insurance recoveries	$ 2.7		$ 2.7
Fixed asset impairment	0.4	$ 16.4	16.4
Loss on deconsolidation of BWC	$ (2.0)		$ (2.0)
Kronos Worldwide, Inc. \| Valhi Incorporation
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Direct ownership percentage by parent	50.00%	50.00%	50.00%
Kronos Worldwide, Inc. \| NL
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Indirect controlling interest in subsidiary	31.00%	31.00%	31.00%
NL \| Valhi Incorporation
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Direct ownership percentage by parent	83.00%	83.00%	83.00%
LandWell \| Valhi Incorporation
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Direct ownership percentage by parent	27.00%	27.00%	27.00%
LandWell \| BMI
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Indirect controlling interest in subsidiary	50.00%	50.00%	50.00%
BMI
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Loss on deconsolidation of BWC	$ 2.0
Bad debt expense recognized	$ 1.3
BMI \| Valhi Incorporation
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Direct ownership percentage by parent	63.00%	63.00%	63.00%

Amount of gain (loss) from deconsolidation of subsidiary and derecognition of group of assets constituting transfer of business or nonprofit activity, excluding conveyance of oil and gas mineral rights and transfer of good or service in contract with customer.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 810
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1B
-Subparagraph (a)
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The aggregate amount of write-downs for impairments recognized during the period for long lived assets held for use (including those held for disposal by means other than sale).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
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The amount recovered from insurance. These recoveries reduce costs and losses that are reported as a separate line item under operating expenses.

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Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
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-Name Accounting Standards Codification
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-SubTopic 10
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The parent entity's interest in net assets of the subsidiary, expressed as a percentage.

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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.

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Amount of bad debt expenses recognized to fully reserve the intercompany accounts receivable balance with BWC related to BWC's bankruptcy filing.

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Controlling interest in subsidiary held indirectly through controlled subsidiary of parent.

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