Is It Rude To Ask People To Remove Their Shoes?

I recently found out that some of my friends consider my request for everyone to remove their shoes when they come into our home to be rude. I was shocked, horrified and embarrassed!

I've been doing this for over ten years, basically since we built our house. At the time I was pregnant with Jackson and the thought of a baby crawling around on the floor with people walking around with who knows what on the bottom of their shoes just grossed me out! Plus, it will prolong the life of our floor and prevent damage.

My friends said that they consider my request to be rude, tacky, it catches people off guard and can seem to be a power trip.

After I got over my shock, I informed them that if they didn't like my rule that they should have said something sooner and don't come over to my house!

Is it rude to ask people to remove their shoes?