Segment reporting (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Apr. 02, 2016 USD ($) segment	Apr. 04, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Segment Reporting [Abstract]
Number of reportable segments \| segment	3
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	$ 2,172,046	$ 1,881,177
Operating income (loss)	245,672	43,774
Assets	10,292,315		$ 9,934,400
Operating Segments [Member] \| Global Ceramic Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	773,726	719,828
Operating income (loss)	99,777	85,327
Assets	3,988,285		3,846,133
Operating Segments [Member] \| Flooring NA Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	906,364	846,911
Operating income (loss)	75,351	(75,192)
Assets	3,267,529		3,164,525
Operating Segments [Member] \| Flooring ROW Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	491,956	314,742
Operating income (loss)	79,537	44,641
Assets	2,926,959		2,805,246
Intersegment Sales [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Net sales	0	(304)
Corporate And Intersegment Eliminations [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Operating income (loss)	(8,993)	$ (11,002)
Assets	$ 109,542		$ 118,496

Sum of the carrying amounts as of the balance sheet date of all assets that are recognized. Assets are probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by an entity as a result of past transactions or events.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.18)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher SEC
-Name Regulation S-X (SX)
-Number 210
-Section 03
-Paragraph 12
-Article 7

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Aggregate revenue during the period from the sale of goods in the normal course of business, after deducting returns, allowances and discounts.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 225
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.1(a))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26872669&loc=d3e20235-122688

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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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