Accounting for Impairment of Long-Lived Assets (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges	$ 0	$ 0	$ 39,831,000
Remaining carrying value upon impairment of assets	12,700,000
Expected annualized pre-tax depreciation savings			5,000,000
Actual pretax depreciation savings		5,000,000	2,400,000
Old Bridge, New Jersy facility [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			4,300,000
Rationalized speciality shapes product line [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			1,500,000
Millinocket, Maine facility [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			6,500,000
Total restructuring program [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			37,500,000
Franklin, Virginia facility [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			2,000,000
Turkish business acquisition [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			6,000,000
Americas Refractories [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			9,500,000
Remaining carrying value upon impairment of assets	300,000
Americas Refractories [Member] | Refractory application equipment [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			3,700,000
European Refractories [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			11,800,000
Remaining carrying value upon impairment of assets	800,000
European Refractories [Member] | Rationalized operations [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			2,200,000
European Refractories [Member] | Refractory application equipment [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			3,300,000
Asian Refractories [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			10,000,000
Remaining carrying value upon impairment of assets	11,600,000
Asian Refractories [Member] | Rationalized operations [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			10,000,000
North American Paper PCC [Member]
Impaired Long-Lived Assets Held and Used [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges			8,500,000
Remaining carrying value upon impairment of assets	$ 0