Organization and Basis of Presentation (Policies)	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Organization	Organization— We are majority owned by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Contran Corporation (“Contran”), which owns approximately 92% of our outstanding common stock at June 30, 2019. At June 30, 2019, all of Contran's outstanding voting stock was held by a family trust established for the benefit of Lisa K. Simmons and Serena Simmons Connelly and their children, for which Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly were co-trustees (the “Family Trust”), or was held directly by Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly or various other family trusts established for the benefit of Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly and their children and for which Ms. Simmons or Ms. Connelly, as applicable, serve as trustee (collectively, the “Other Trusts”). Consequently, at June 30, 2019, Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly may be deemed to control Contran and us. Effective July 16, 2019, and upon entry of an agreed final judgment by the probate court of Dallas County in the state of Texas, Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly appointed two third parties as successor co-trustees of the Family Trust. Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly retain the ability to appoint qualifying successor trustees of the Family Trust if either or both of the third party successor trustees resign or otherwise do not serve as trustee. Following such appointment, a majority of Contran’s outstanding voting stock is held directly by Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly and the Other Trusts and the remainder of Contran’s outstanding voting stock is held by the Family Trust. Consequently, as of July 16, 2019, Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly and the co-trustees of the Family Trust may be deemed to control Contran and us.
Basis of Presentation	Basis of Presentation— Consolidated in this Quarterly Report are the results of our majority-owned and wholly-owned subsidiaries, including NL Industries, Inc., Kronos Worldwide, Inc., CompX International Inc., Tremont LLC, Basic Management, Inc. (“BMI”) and The LandWell Company (“LandWell”). Kronos (NYSE: KRO), NL (NYSE: NL), and CompX (NYSE American: CIX) each file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). In January 2018, we sold Waste Control Specialists LLC (“WCS”). See Note 3. The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this Quarterly Report have been prepared on the same basis as the audited Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 that we filed with the SEC on March 11, 2019 (the “2018 Annual Report”). In our opinion, we have made all necessary adjustments (which include only normal recurring adjustments, other than the gain on the sale of WCS recognized in the first quarter of 2018 as discussed in Note 3), in order to state fairly, in all material respects, our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows as of the dates and for the periods presented. We have condensed the Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2018 contained in this Quarterly Report as compared to our audited Consolidated Financial Statements at that date, and we have omitted certain information and footnote disclosures (including those related to the Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2018) normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). Our results of operations for the interim periods ended June 30, 2019 may not be indicative of our operating results for the full year. The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this Quarterly Report should be read in conjunction with our 2018 Consolidated Financial Statements contained in our 2018 Annual Report. Unless otherwise indicated, references in this report to “we,” “us” or “our” refer to Valhi, Inc. and its subsidiaries (NYSE: VHI), taken as a whole.
Recent accounting pronouncements	On January 1, 2019, we adopted ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which is a comprehensive rewriting of the lease accounting guidance which aims to increase comparability and transparency with regard to lease transactions. The primary change was the recognition of lease assets for the right-of-use of the underlying asset and lease liabilities for the obligation to make payments by lessees on the balance sheet for leases previously classified as operating leases. ASU 2016-02, as amended, also requires increased qualitative disclosure about leases in addition to quantitative disclosures previously required. As permitted, we adopted this ASU prospectively as of January 1, 2019 with no restatement of prior period financial statements. This ASU permits companies to elect certain practical expedients upon adoption, and at adoption we elected the package of practical expedients related to, among other things, lease classification (in which existing leases classified as operating leases under prior GAAP are classified as an operating lease under the new ASU, and existing leases classified as a capital lease under prior GAAP are classified as a finance lease under the new ASU), nonlease components (in which nonlease components associated with a lease and paid by us to the lessor, such as property taxes, insurance and maintenance, are treated as a lease component and considered part of minimum lease rental payments), and short-term leases (in which leases with an original maturity of 12 months or less are excluded from the recognition requirements of the new ASU). Upon adoption of this new ASU, at January 1, 2019 we recognized an aggregate right-of-use operating lease asset of $35.1 million and a corresponding aggregate operating lease liability of $34.5 million (there was no impact to the opening balance of retained earnings at January 1, 2019 as a result of adopting this new ASU). See Note 6.

Organization and Basis of Presentation (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Organization— We are majority owned by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Contran Corporation (“Contran”), which owns approximately 92% of our outstanding common stock at June 30, 2019. At June 30, 2019, all of Contran's outstanding voting stock was held by a family trust established for the benefit of Lisa K. Simmons and Serena Simmons Connelly and their children, for which Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly were co-trustees (the “Family Trust”), or was held directly by Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly or various other family trusts established for the benefit of Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly and their children and for which Ms. Simmons or Ms. Connelly, as applicable, serve as trustee (collectively, the “Other Trusts”). Consequently, at June 30, 2019, Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly may be deemed to control Contran and us.

Effective July 16, 2019, and upon entry of an agreed final judgment by the probate court of Dallas County in the state of Texas, Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly appointed two third parties as successor co-trustees of the Family Trust. Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly retain the ability to appoint qualifying successor trustees of the Family Trust if either or both of the third party successor trustees resign or otherwise do not serve as trustee. Following such appointment, a majority of Contran’s outstanding voting stock is held directly by Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly and the Other Trusts and the remainder of Contran’s outstanding voting stock is held by the Family Trust. Consequently, as of July 16, 2019, Ms. Simmons and Ms. Connelly and the co-trustees of the Family Trust may be deemed to control Contran and us.

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation— Consolidated in this Quarterly Report are the results of our majority-owned and wholly-owned subsidiaries, including NL Industries, Inc., Kronos Worldwide, Inc., CompX International Inc., Tremont LLC, Basic Management, Inc. (“BMI”) and The LandWell Company (“LandWell”). Kronos (NYSE: KRO), NL (NYSE: NL), and CompX (NYSE American: CIX) each file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). In January 2018, we sold Waste Control Specialists LLC (“WCS”). See Note 3.

The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this Quarterly Report have been prepared on the same basis as the audited Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 that we filed with the SEC on March 11, 2019 (the “2018 Annual Report”). In our opinion, we have made all necessary adjustments (which include only normal recurring adjustments, other than the gain on the sale of WCS recognized in the first quarter of 2018 as discussed in Note 3), in order to state fairly, in all material respects, our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows as of the dates and for the periods presented. We have condensed the Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2018 contained in this Quarterly Report as compared to our audited Consolidated Financial Statements at that date, and we have omitted certain information and footnote disclosures (including those related to the Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2018) normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). Our results of operations for the interim periods ended June 30, 2019 may not be indicative of our operating results for the full year. The Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements contained in this Quarterly Report should be read in conjunction with our 2018 Consolidated Financial Statements contained in our 2018 Annual Report.

Unless otherwise indicated, references in this report to “we,” “us” or “our” refer to Valhi, Inc. and its subsidiaries (NYSE: VHI), taken as a whole.

Recent accounting pronouncements

On January 1, 2019, we adopted ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which is a comprehensive rewriting of the lease accounting guidance which aims to increase comparability and transparency with regard to lease transactions. The primary change was the recognition of lease assets for the right-of-use of the underlying asset and lease liabilities for the obligation to make payments by lessees on the balance sheet for leases previously classified as operating leases. ASU 2016-02, as amended, also requires increased qualitative disclosure about leases in addition to quantitative disclosures previously required. As permitted, we adopted this ASU prospectively as of January 1, 2019 with no restatement of prior period financial statements. This ASU permits companies to elect certain practical expedients upon adoption, and at adoption we elected the package of practical expedients related to, among other things, lease classification (in which existing leases classified as operating leases under prior GAAP are classified as an operating lease under the new ASU, and existing leases classified as a capital lease under prior GAAP are classified as a finance lease under the new ASU), nonlease components (in which nonlease components associated with a lease and paid by us to the lessor, such as property taxes, insurance and maintenance, are treated as a lease component and considered part of minimum lease rental payments), and short-term leases (in which leases with an original maturity of 12 months or less are excluded from the recognition requirements of the new ASU). Upon adoption of this new ASU, at January 1, 2019 we recognized an aggregate right-of-use operating lease asset of $35.1 million and a corresponding aggregate operating lease liability of $34.5 million (there was no impact to the opening balance of retained earnings at January 1, 2019 as a result of adopting this new ASU). See Note 6.